THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY MURPHY, CALTAGIRONE, ADOLPH, BARRAR, BELFANTI, BOYLE, BRADFORD, BRENNAN, BRIGGS, BROWN, CASORIO, COHEN, CRUZ, DALEY, DEASY, DeLUCA, DePASQUALE, FARRY, FLECK, FREEMAN, GALLOWAY, GEORGE, GIBBONS, GINGRICH, GOODMAN, GRUCELA, HALUSKA, HARKINS, HELM, HENNESSEY, HESS, HORNAMAN, HUTCHINSON, JOSEPHS, W. KELLER, KORTZ, KOTIK, KULA, LENTZ, LONGIETTI, MAHONEY, MANDERINO, MANN, MARKOSEK, MATZIE, McCALL, McGEEHAN, McILVAINE SMITH, MENSCH, MICOZZIE, D. O'BRIEN, M. O'BRIEN, O'NEILL, PETRARCA, PETRI, PHILLIPS, PYLE, READSHAW, REICHLEY, ROCK, SABATINA, SANTONI, SCAVELLO, SEIP, SHAPIRO, SIPTROTH, K. SMITH, SOLOBAY, SONNEY, STABACK, J. TAYLOR, WALKO, WATSON, YOUNGBLOOD, YUDICHAK, BEYER, MURT, DALLY, GEIST, VULAKOVICH, D. COSTA, GERGELY, P. COSTA, KESSLER, BURNS, BARBIN, HOUGHTON, BISHOP, DERMODY, FRANKEL, WAGNER, MIRABITO, SAINATO, HARHAI, PASHINSKI AND CAUSER, APRIL 7, 2009

AS AMENDED ON SECOND CONSIDERATION, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AUGUST 5, 2009   

AN ACT

Amending the act of June 2, 1915 (P.L.736, No.338), entitled, as

reenacted and amended, "An act defining the liability of an

employer to pay damages for injuries received by an employe

in the course of employment; establishing an elective

schedule of compensation; providing procedure for the

determination of liability and compensation thereunder; and

prescribing penalties," further defining "occupational

disease"; and providing for cancer in the occupation of

firefighter.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Section 108 of the act of June 2, 1915 (P.L.736,

No.338), known as the Workers' Compensation Act, reenacted and

amended June 21, 1939 (P.L.520, No.281), is amended by adding a

clause to read:

Section 108.  The term "occupational disease," as used in

this act, shall mean only the following diseases.

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(r)  Cancer, resulting in either temporary or permanent total

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or partial disability or death, after four years or more of

service in firefighting for the benefit or safety of the public,

cancer affecting the skin or the central nervous, lymphatic,

digestive, hematological, urinary, skeletal, oral, breast,

testicular, genitourinary, liver or prostate systems, as well as

any condition of cancer that may result from exposure to heat or

radiation or to a known or suspected carcinogen as determined by

the International Agency for Research on Cancer, arising

directly out of the employment of any such firefighter.

(r)  Cancer suffered by a firefighter which is caused by

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exposure to either heat, gas, radiation or a known carcinogen

which is recognized by the International Agency for Research on

Cancer which is reasonably linked to the cancer.

Section 2.  Section 301(c) of the act is amended by adding a

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paragraph and the section is amended by adding a subsection to

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read:

Section 301.  * * *

(c)  * * *

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(3)  The limitations of paragraph (2) shall not apply in the

case of cancer in the occupation of firefighter. The employer

shall have the burden of proving that the firefighter's

occupation was not a major contributing cause of the

firefighter's cancer.

* * *

(c)  (1)  The terms "injury" and "personal injury," as used

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in this act, shall be construed to mean an injury to an employe,

regardless of his previous physical condition, arising in the

course of his employment and related thereto, and such disease

or infection as naturally results from the injury or is

aggravated, reactivated or accelerated by the injury; and

wherever death is mentioned as a cause for compensation under

this act, it shall mean only death resulting from such injury

and its resultant effects, and occurring within three hundred

weeks after the injury. The term "injury arising in the course

of his employment," as used in this article, shall not include

an injury caused by an act of a third person intended to injure

the employe because of reasons personal to him, and not directed

against him as an employe or because of his employment; nor

shall it include injuries sustained while the employe is

operating a motor vehicle provided by the employer if the

employe is not otherwise in the course of employment at the time

of injury; but shall include all other injuries sustained while

the employe is actually engaged in the furtherance of the

business or affairs of the employer, whether upon the employer's

premises or elsewhere, and shall include all injuries caused by

the condition of the premises or by the operation of the

employer's business or affairs thereon, sustained by the

employe, who, though not so engaged, is injured upon the

premises occupied by or under the control of the employer, or

upon which the employer's business or affairs are being carried

on, the employe's presence thereon being required by the nature

of his employment.

(2)  The terms "injury," "personal injury," and "injury

arising in the course of his employment," as used in this act,

shall include, unless the context clearly requires otherwise,

occupational disease as defined in section 108 of this act:

Provided, That whenever occupational disease is the basis for

compensation, for disability or death under this act, it shall

apply only to disability or death resulting from such disease

and occurring within three hundred weeks after the last date of

employment in an occupation or industry to which he was exposed

to hazards of such disease: And provided further, That if the

employe's compensable disability has occurred within such

period, his subsequent death as a result of the disease shall

likewise be compensable. The provisions of this paragraph (2)

shall apply only with respect to the disability or death of an

employe which results in whole or in part from the employe's

exposure to the hazard of occupational disease after June 30,

1973 in employment covered by The Pennsylvania Workmen's

Compensation Act. The employer liable for compensation provided

by section 305.1 or section 108, subsections (k), (l), (m), (o),

(p) [or], (q) or (r), shall be the employer in whose employment

the employe was last exposed for a period of not less than one

year to the hazard of the occupational disease claimed. In the

event the employe did not work in an exposure at least one year

for any employer during the three hundred week period prior to

disability or death, the employer liable for the compensation

shall be that employer giving the longest period of employment

in which the employe was exposed to the hazards of the disease

claimed.

* * *

(f)  Compensation pursuant to cancer suffered by a

firefighter shall only be to those firefighters who have served

four or more years in firefighting duties and who can establish

direct exposure to factors referred to in section 108(r)

relating to cancer by a firefighter. The presumption of this

section may be rebutted by substantial evidence that shows that

the firefighter engaged in conduct or activities outside of

firefighting duties that posed a substantial risk of causing the

cancer. A claim made by a member of a volunteer fire company

must be based on evidence of exposure to causal factors as

documented by reports filed pursuant to the Pennsylvania Fire

Information Reporting System, if such fire company participates

in the system, and provided that the member's claim is based on

being exposed to causal factors on or after the date the fire

company began to utilize the reporting system. The limitation in

subsection (c)(2) with respect to disability or death resulting

from an occupational disease having to occur within three

hundred weeks after the last date of employment in an occupation

or industry to which a claimant was exposed to hazards of

disease shall not apply to claims filed pursuant to cancer

suffered by the firefighter under section 108(r).

Section 3.  The provisions of this act shall apply to claims

filed on or after the effective date of this section.

Section 3 4.  This act shall take effect immediately.

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