Relating to injuries subject to workers’ compensation and including retroactive applicability provisions

This bill relates to injuries under the workers’ compensation program. Under current law, a proceeding on a claim for workers’ compensation benefits must generally be commenced within two years from the date of the occurrence of the injury for which benefits are claimed in order to be valid. The bill provides that if the two-year period is exceeded because the employee was unable to obtain an accurate diagnosis of the injury within the period from a health service provider chosen by the employer, the period shall be extended until such time as the employee can obtain such a diagnosis. This exception to the two-year period only applies if a delay in such a diagnosis beyond the period was solely the result of action taken or not taken by the health service provider and if the employee demonstrates that the employee made a diligent effort to obtain such a diagnosis from the health care provider without undue delay on the employee’s part. Under current law, “date of the occurrence of the injury” is defined for purposes of the two-year period as the date that the employee knew or should have known that the injury was work-related. The bill provides that this term is defined as the date that the employee knew or should have known, based on the nature, seriousness, and probable compensable character of the injury, that the injury was serious enough to have a permanent adverse impact on the employee’s employment or employability. The bill applies retroactively to injuries occurring on or after August 1, 2022.