Senate Study Bill 1141 - Introduced SENATE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND BUSINESS RELATIONS BILL BY CHAIRPERSON HORN) A BILL FOR An Act requiring additional workers’ compensation payments for 1 scheduled injuries that result in a reduction in the injured 2 employee’s earning capacity. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 2622XC (2) 84 av/rj

S.F. _____ Section 1. Section 85.34, subsection 2, Code 2011, is 1 amended by adding the following new paragraph: 2 NEW PARAGRAPH . w. If an employee sustains an injury 3 described in paragraphs “a” through “t” and is unable to return 4 to employment providing substantially similar earnings to the 5 earnings provided in the employment in which the employee was 6 engaged at the time of the injury, compensation shall be paid 7 during the number of weeks in relation to five hundred weeks 8 as the reduction in the employee’s earning capacity bears in 9 relation to the earning capacity that the employee possessed 10 when the injury occurred. If the employee is permanently and 11 totally disabled as a result of such an injury the employee may 12 be entitled to benefits under subsection 3. 13 Sec. 2. Section 85.64, Code 2011, is amended to read as 14 follows: 15 85.64 Limitation of benefits. 16 1. If an employee who has previously lost, or lost the 17 use of, one hand, one arm, one foot, one leg, or one eye, 18 becomes permanently disabled by a compensable injury which 19 has resulted in the loss of or loss of use of another such 20 member or organ and which does not cause the employee to be 21 eligible for benefits under section 85.34, subsection 2, 22 paragraph “w” , the employer shall be liable only for the degree 23 of disability which would have resulted from the latter injury 24 if there had been no preexisting disability. In addition to 25 such compensation, and after the expiration of the full period 26 provided by law for the payments thereof by the employer, the 27 employee shall be paid out of the “Second Injury Fund” created 28 by this division the remainder of such compensation as would be 29 payable for the degree of permanent disability involved after 30 first deducting from such remainder the compensable value of 31 the previously lost member or organ. 32 2. Any benefits received by any such employee, or to which 33 the employee may be entitled, by reason of such increased 34 disability from any state or federal fund or agency, to which 35 -1- LSB 2622XC (2) 84 av/rj 1/ 2

S.F. _____ said employee has not directly contributed, shall be regarded 1 as a credit to any award made against said second injury fund 2 as aforesaid. 3 EXPLANATION 4 This bill amends Code section 85.34 to provide that 5 for purposes of workers’ compensation, an employee who 6 sustains a scheduled injury and is unable to return to 7 employment providing substantially similar earnings to that 8 of the preinjury employment earning capacity, shall be paid 9 compensation during the number of weeks in relation to 500 10 weeks as the reduction in the employee’s earning capacity 11 caused by the disability bears in relation to the earning 12 capacity that the employee possessed when the injury occurred. 13 The bill also amends Code section 85.64 to provide that an 14 employee who has previously sustained a loss of a body part and 15 then becomes permanently disabled when that injury is combined 16 with a second compensable injury is entitled to compensation 17 out of the state second injury fund as long as that second 18 compensable injury alone does not cause the employee to be 19 unable to return to substantially similar employment and thus 20 be eligible for benefits under the new paragraph “w” in Code 21 section 85.34(2). 22 -2- LSB 2622XC (2) 84 av/rj 2/ 2