REPORT TITLE:
Workers' Compensation


DESCRIPTION:
Clarifies the types of instances in which workers' compensation
is not allowed.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           720
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO WORKERS' COMPENSATION. 


BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 386-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended to read as follows:
 
 3      �386-3 Injuries covered.(a)  If an employee suffers
 
 4 personal injury either by accident arising out of and in the
 
 5 course of the employment or by disease proximately caused by or
 
 6 resulting from the nature of the employment, the employee's
 
 7 employer or the special compensation fund shall pay compensation
 
 8 to the employee or the employee's dependents as provided in this
 
 9 chapter.
 
10      Accident arising out of and in the course of the employment
 
11 includes the wilful act of a third person directed against an
 
12 employee because of the employee's employment.
 
13      (b)  [No compensation shall be allowed for an injury
 
14 incurred by an employee by the employee's wilful intention to
 
15 injure oneself or another by actively engaging in any unprovoked
 
16 non-work related physical altercation other than in self defense,
 
17 or by the employee's intoxication.] Notwithstanding subsection
 
18 (a), no compensation shall be allowed for an injury or disease
 
19 incurred by an employee as a result of the employee's:
 

 
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 1      (1)  Wilful intention to injure the employee's self or
 
 2           another;
 
 3      (2)  Consumption of alcoholic beverages or unlawful
 
 4           consumption of any drug or controlled substance, unless
 
 5           the employer permitted or had actual knowledge of the
 
 6           consumption.  For purposes of this section, "controlled
 
 7           substance" has the same meaning as defined in
 
 8           section 329-1;
 
 9      (3)  Active participation in an assault or combat that is
 
10           not a function of the employee's job assignment and
 
11           amounts to a deviation from customary duties, unless
 
12           the employee did not initiate the assault or combat and
 
13           the employee's participation was limited to reasonable
 
14           efforts to defend oneself or another;
 
15      (4)  Voluntary participation in any recreational or social
 
16           activity off the work premises solely for the
 
17           employee's personal pleasure, including, but not
 
18           limited to, employer-sponsored sporting events, team
 
19           activities, parties, and picnics; or
 
20      (5)  Mental disorder, including mental stress, unless the
 
21           employment conditions that produced the mental disorder
 
22           were conditions other than conditions generally
 
23           inherent in every working situation, including
 

 
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 1           personnel actions relating to discipline, correction of
 
 2           job performance, or cessation of employment or
 
 3           promotion, in which case clear and convincing evidence
 
 4           shall be required to establish that actual events of
 
 5           employment comprised not less than fifty per cent of
 
 6           all combined causes of the mental disorder.
 
 7      [(c)  A claim for mental stress resulting solely from
 
 8 disciplinary action taken in good faith by the employer shall not
 
 9 be allowed; provided that if a collective bargaining agreement or
 
10 other employment agreement specifies a different standard than
 
11 good faith for disciplinary actions, the standards set in the
 
12 collective bargaining agreement or other employment agreement
 
13 shall be applied in lieu of the good faith standard.  For
 
14 purposes of this subsection, the standards set in the collective
 
15 bargaining agreement or other employment agreement shall be
 
16 applied in any proceeding before the department, the appellate
 
17 board, and the appellate courts.]"
 
18      SECTION 2.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
19 New statutory material is underscored.
 
20      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
21 
 
22                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________
 

 
 
 
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