093_SB0632eng SB632 Engrossed LRB093 10674 WGH 11299 b 1 AN ACT concerning workplace health. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 5. The Workers' Compensation Act is amended by 5 changing Section 11 as follows: 6 (820 ILCS 305/11) (from Ch. 48, par. 138.11) 7 Sec. 11. The compensation herein provided, together with 8 the provisions of this Act, shall be the measure of the 9 responsibility of any employer engaged in any of the 10 enterprises or businesses enumerated in Section 3 of this 11 Act, or of any employer who is not engaged in any such 12 enterprises or businesses, but who has elected to provide and 13 pay compensation for accidental injuries sustained by any 14 employee arising out of and in the course of the employment 15 according to the provisions of this Act, and whose election 16 to continue under this Act, has not been nullified by any 17 action of his employees as provided for in this Act. 18 Accidental injuries incurred while participating in 19 voluntary recreational programs including but not limited to 20 athletic events, parties and picnics do not arise out of and 21 in the course of the employment even though the employer pays 22 some or all of the cost thereof. This exclusion shall not 23 apply in the event that the injured employee was ordered or 24 assigned by his employer to participate in the program. 25 Accidental injuries incurred while participating as a 26 patient in a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program do not 27 arise out of and in the course of employment even though the 28 employer pays some or all of the costs thereof. 29 Any injury to or death of an employee arising from the 30 administration of a vaccine, including without limitation 31 smallpox vaccine, to prepare for, or as a response to, a SB632 Engrossed -2- LRB093 10674 WGH 11299 b 1 threatened or potential bioterrorist incident to the employee 2 as part of a voluntary inoculation program in connection with 3 the person's employment or in connection with any 4 governmental program or recommendation for the inoculation of 5 workers in the employee's occupation, geographical area, or 6 other category that includes the employee is deemed to arise 7 out of and in the course of employment for all purposes under 8 this Act. This amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly is 9 declarative of existing law and is not a new enactment. 10 (Source: P.A. 81-1482.) 11 Section 10. The Workers' Occupational Diseases Act is 12 amended by changing Section 1 as follows: 13 (820 ILCS 310/1) (from Ch. 48, par. 172.36) 14 Sec. 1. This Act shall be known and may be cited as the 15 "Workers' Occupational Diseases Act". 16 (a) The term "employer" as used in this Act shall be 17 construed to be: 18 1. The State and each county, city, town, township, 19 incorporated village, school district, body politic, or 20 municipal corporation therein. 21 2. Every person, firm, public or private corporation, 22 including hospitals, public service, eleemosynary, religious 23 or charitable corporations or associations, who has any 24 person in service or under any contract for hire, express or 25 implied, oral or written. 26 3. Where an employer operating under and subject to the 27 provisions of this Act loans an employee to another such 28 employer and such loaned employee sustains a compensable 29 occupational disease in the employment of such borrowing 30 employer and where such borrowing employer does not provide 31 or pay the benefits or payments due such employee, such 32 loaning employer shall be liable to provide or pay all SB632 Engrossed -3- LRB093 10674 WGH 11299 b 1 benefits or payments due such employee under this Act and as 2 to such employee the liability of such loaning and borrowing 3 employers shall be joint and several, provided that such 4 loaning employer shall in the absence of agreement to the 5 contrary be entitled to receive from such borrowing employer 6 full reimbursement for all sums paid or incurred pursuant to 7 this paragraph together with reasonable attorneys' fees and 8 expenses in any hearings before the Industrial Commission or 9 in any action to secure such reimbursement. Where any 10 benefit is provided or paid by such loaning employer, the 11 employee shall have the duty of rendering reasonable 12 co-operation in any hearings, trials or proceedings in the 13 case, including such proceedings for reimbursement. 14 Where an employee files an Application for Adjustment of 15 Claim with the Industrial Commission alleging that his or her 16 claim is covered by the provisions of the preceding 17 paragraph, and joining both the alleged loaning and borrowing 18 employers, they and each of them, upon written demand by the 19 employee and within 7 days after receipt of such demand, 20 shall have the duty of filing with the Industrial Commission 21 a written admission or denial of the allegation that the 22 claim is covered by the provisions of the preceding paragraph 23 and in default of such filing or if any such denial be 24 ultimately determined not to have been bona fide then the 25 provisions of Paragraph K of Section 19 of this Act shall 26 apply. 27 An employer whose business or enterprise or a substantial 28 part thereof consists of hiring, procuring or furnishing 29 employees to or for other employers operating under and 30 subject to the provisions of this Act for the performance of 31 the work of such other employers and who pays such employees 32 their salary or wage notwithstanding that they are doing the 33 work of such other employers shall be deemed a loaning 34 employer within the meaning and provisions of this Section. SB632 Engrossed -4- LRB093 10674 WGH 11299 b 1 (b) The term "employee" as used in this Act, shall be 2 construed to mean: 3 1. Every person in the service of the State, county, 4 city, town, township, incorporated village or school 5 district, body politic or municipal corporation therein, 6 whether by election, appointment or contract of hire, express 7 or implied, oral or written, including any official of the 8 State, or of any county, city, town, township, incorporated 9 village, school district, body politic or municipal 10 corporation therein and except any duly appointed member of 11 the fire department in any city whose population exceeds 12 500,000 according to the last Federal or State census, and 13 except any member of a fire insurance patrol maintained by a 14 board of underwriters in this State. One employed by a 15 contractor who has contracted with the State, or a county, 16 city, town, township, incorporated village, school district, 17 body politic or municipal corporation therein, through its 18 representatives, shall not be considered as an employee of 19 the State, county, city, town, township, incorporated 20 village, school district, body politic or municipal 21 corporation which made the contract. 22 2. Every person in the service of another under any 23 contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, who 24 contracts an occupational disease while working in the State 25 of Illinois, or who contracts an occupational disease while 26 working outside of the State of Illinois but where the 27 contract of hire is made within the State of Illinois, and 28 any person whose employment is principally localized within 29 the State of Illinois, regardless of the place where the 30 disease was contracted or place where the contract of hire 31 was made, including aliens, and minors who, for the purpose 32 of this Act, except Section 3 hereof, shall be considered the 33 same and have the same power to contract, receive payments 34 and give quittances therefor, as adult employees. An employee SB632 Engrossed -5- LRB093 10674 WGH 11299 b 1 or his or her dependents under this Act who shall have a 2 cause of action by reason of an occupational disease, 3 disablement or death arising out of and in the course of his 4 or her employment may elect or pursue his or her remedy in 5 the State where the disease was contracted, or in the State 6 where the contract of hire is made, or in the State where the 7 employment is principally localized. 8 (c) "Commission" means the Industrial Commission created 9 by the Workers' Compensation Act, approved July 9, 1951, as 10 amended. 11 (d) In this Act the term "Occupational Disease" means a 12 disease arising out of and in the course of the employment or 13 which has become aggravated and rendered disabling as a 14 result of the exposure of the employment. Such aggravation 15 shall arise out of a risk peculiar to or increased by the 16 employment and not common to the general public. 17 A disease shall be deemed to arise out of the employment 18 if there is apparent to the rational mind, upon consideration 19 of all the circumstances, a causal connection between the 20 conditions under which the work is performed and the 21 occupational disease. The disease need not to have been 22 foreseen or expected but after its contraction it must appear 23 to have had its origin or aggravation in a risk connected 24 with the employment and to have flowed from that source as a 25 rational consequence. 26 An employee shall be conclusively deemed to have been 27 exposed to the hazards of an occupational disease when, for 28 any length of time however short, he or she is employed in an 29 occupation or process in which the hazard of the disease 30 exists; provided however, that in a claim of exposure to 31 atomic radiation, the fact of such exposure must be verified 32 by the records of the central registry of radiation exposure 33 maintained by the Department of Public Health or by some 34 other recognized governmental agency maintaining records of SB632 Engrossed -6- LRB093 10674 WGH 11299 b 1 such exposures whenever and to the extent that the records 2 are on file with the Department of Public Health or the 3 agency. 4 Any disease or death of an employee arising from the 5 administration of a vaccine, including without limitation 6 smallpox vaccine, to prepare for, or as a response to, a 7 threatened or potential bioterrorist incident to the employee 8 as part of a voluntary inoculation program in connection with 9 the person's employment or in connection with any 10 governmental program or recommendation for the inoculation of 11 workers in the employee's occupation, geographical area, or 12 other category that includes the employee is deemed to arise 13 out of and in the course of employment for all purposes under 14 this Act. This amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly is 15 declarative of existing law and is not a new enactment. 16 The employer liable for the compensation in this Act 17 provided shall be the employer in whose employment the 18 employee was last exposed to the hazard of the occupational 19 disease claimed upon regardless of the length of time of such 20 last exposure, except, in cases of silicosis or asbestosis, 21 the only employer liable shall be the last employer in whose 22 employment the employee was last exposed during a period of 23 60 days or more after the effective date of this Act, to the 24 hazard of such occupational disease, and, in such cases, an 25 exposure during a period of less than 60 days, after the 26 effective date of this Act, shall not be deemed a last 27 exposure. If a miner who is suffering or suffered from 28 pneumoconiosis was employed for 10 years or more in one or 29 more coal mines there shall, effective July 1, 1973 be a 30 rebuttable presumption that his or her pneumoconiosis arose 31 out of such employment. 32 If a deceased miner was employed for 10 years or more in 33 one or more coal mines and died from a respirable disease 34 there shall, effective July 1, 1973, be a rebuttable SB632 Engrossed -7- LRB093 10674 WGH 11299 b 1 presumption that his or her death was due to pneumoconiosis. 2 The insurance carrier liable shall be the carrier whose 3 policy was in effect covering the employer liable on the last 4 day of the exposure rendering such employer liable in 5 accordance with the provisions of this Act. 6 (e) "Disablement" means an impairment or partial 7 impairment, temporary or permanent, in the function of the 8 body or any of the members of the body, or the event of 9 becoming disabled from earning full wages at the work in 10 which the employee was engaged when last exposed to the 11 hazards of the occupational disease by the employer from whom 12 he or she claims compensation, or equal wages in other 13 suitable employment; and "disability" means the state of 14 being so incapacitated. 15 (f) No compensation shall be payable for or on account 16 of any occupational disease unless disablement, as herein 17 defined, occurs within two years after the last day of the 18 last exposure to the hazards of the disease, except in cases 19 of occupational disease caused by berylliosis or by the 20 inhalation of silica dust or asbestos dust and, in such 21 cases, within 3 years after the last day of the last exposure 22 to the hazards of such disease and except in the case of 23 occupational disease caused by exposure to radiological 24 materials or equipment, and in such case, within 25 years 25 after the last day of last exposure to the hazards of such 26 disease. 27 (Source: P.A. 81-992.) 28 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 29 becoming law.