PRINTER'S NO. 935
No. 816 Session of 1985
INTRODUCED BY BOWSER, MERRY, DISTLER, FARGO, HALUSKA, GEIST,
GODSHALL, LETTERMAN, E. Z. TAYLOR, JOHNSON, HERMAN, NOYE,
BARLEY, SEMMEL, TRELLO AND PRATT, APRIL 10, 1985
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LABOR RELATIONS, APRIL 10, 1985
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of June 21, 1939 (P.L.566, No.284), entitled
2 "An act defining the liability of an employer to pay damages
3 for occupational disease contracted by an employe arising out
4 of and in the course of employment; establishing an elective
5 schedule of compensation; providing procedure for the
6 determination of liability and compensation thereunder;
7 imposing duties on the Department of Labor and Industry, the
8 Workmen's Compensation Board, Workmen's Compensation
9 Referees, and deans of medical schools; creating a medical
10 board to determine controverted medical issues; establishing
11 an Occupational Disease Fund in custody of the State
12 Workmen's Insurance Board; imposing upon the Commonwealth a
13 part of the compensation payable for certain occupational
14 diseases; making an appropriation; and prescribing
15 penalties," further providing for the authority of the
16 referee.
17 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
18 hereby enacts as follows:
19 Section 1. Section 307 of the act of June 21, 1939 (P.L.566,
20 No.284), known as The Pennsylvania Occupational Disease Act,
21 amended December 9, 1968 (P.L.1150, No.362), is amended to read:
22 Section 307. In case of death resulting from occupational
23 disease, compensation shall be computed on the following basis,
24 and distributed to the following persons, subject to the
1 limitations of section 301:
2 1. If there be no widow nor widower entitled to
3 compensation, compensation shall be paid to the guardian of the
4 child or children, or if there be no guardian, to such other
5 persons as may be designated by the [board] referee as
6 hereinafter provided, as follows:
7 (a) If there be one child, thirty-two per centum of wages of
8 deceased, but not in excess of twenty-five dollars per week.
9 (b) If there be two children, forty-two per centum of wages
10 of deceased, but not in excess of thirty-three dollars per week.
11 (c) If there be three children, fifty-two per centum of
12 wages of deceased, but not in excess of forty-one dollars per
13 week.
14 (d) If there be four children, sixty-two per centum of wages
15 of deceased, but not in excess of forty-eight dollars per week.
16 (e) If there be five children, sixty-four per centum of
17 wages of deceased, but not in excess of fifty-four dollars per
18 week.
19 (f) If there be six or more children, sixty-six and two-
20 thirds per centum of wages of deceased, but not in excess of
21 sixty dollars per week.
22 2. To the widow or widower, if there be no children, fifty-
23 one per centum of wages, but not in excess of thirty-nine
24 dollars per week.
25 3. To the widow or widower, if there be one child, sixty per
26 centum of wages, but not in excess of forty-six dollars per
27 week.
28 4. To the widow or widower, if there be two children, sixty-
29 six and two-thirds per centum of wages, but not in excess of
30 fifty-four dollars per week.
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1 5. To the widow or widower, if there be three or more
2 children, sixty-six and two-thirds per centum of wages, but not
3 in excess of sixty dollars per week.
4 6. If there be neither widow, widower, nor children,
5 entitled to compensation, then to the father or mother, if
6 dependent to any extent upon the employe at the time of his
7 death, thirty-two per centum of wages, but not in excess of
8 twenty-five dollars per week: Provided, however, That in the
9 case of a minor child who has been contributing to his parents,
10 the dependency of said parents shall be presumed: And provided
11 further, That if the father or mother was totally dependent upon
12 the deceased employe at the time of his death, the compensation
13 payable to such father or mother shall be fifty-two per centum
14 of wages, but not in excess of thirty-eight dollars per week.
15 7. If there be neither widow, widower, children, nor
16 dependent parent, entitled to compensation, then to the brothers
17 and sisters, if actually dependent upon the decedent for support
18 at the time of his death, twenty-two per centum of wages for one
19 brother or sister, and five per centum additional for each
20 additional brother or sister, with a maximum of thirty-two per
21 centum, such compensation to be paid to their guardian, or, if
22 there be no guardian, to such other person as may be designated
23 by the [board] referee, as hereinafter provided.
24 8. Whether or not there be dependents as aforesaid, the
25 reasonable expense of burial, not exceeding seven hundred fifty
26 dollars, which shall be paid by the employer or insurer directly
27 to the undertaker (without deduction of any amounts theretofore
28 paid for compensation or for medical expenses).
29 Compensation shall be payable under this section to or on
30 account of any child, brother, or sister, only if and while such
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1 child, brother, or sister is under the age of eighteen. No
2 compensation shall be payable under this section to a widow,
3 unless she was living with her deceased husband at the time of
4 his death, or was then actually dependent upon him and receiving
5 from him a substantial portion of her support. No compensation
6 shall be payable under this section to a widower, unless he be
7 incapable of self-support at the time of his wife's death and be
8 at such time dependent upon her for support. If members of
9 decedent's household at the time of his death, the terms "child"
10 and "children" shall include stepchildren, adopted children, and
11 children to whom he stood in loco parentis, and shall include
12 posthumous children. Should any dependent of a deceased employe
13 die or remarry, or should the widower become capable of self-
14 support, the right of such dependent or widower to compensation
15 under this section shall cease: Provided, however, That if, upon
16 investigation and hearing, it shall be ascertained that the
17 widow or widower is living with a man or woman, as the case may
18 be, in meretricious relationship and not married, or the widow
19 living a life of prostitution, [the board] a referee may order
20 the termination of compensation payable to such widow or
21 widower. If the compensation payable under this section to any
22 person shall, for any cause, cease, the compensation to the
23 remaining persons entitled thereunder shall thereafter be the
24 same as would have been payable to them had they been the only
25 persons entitled to compensation at the time of the death of the
26 deceased.
27 The wages upon which death compensation shall be based shall
28 not in any case be taken to exceed ninety dollars per week, nor
29 be less than fifty dollars per week.
30 The [board] referee may, if the best interests of a child or
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1 children shall so require, at any time order and direct the
2 compensation payable to a child or children, or to a widow or a
3 widower, on account of any child or children, to be paid to the
4 guardian of such child or children, or, if there be no guardian,
5 to such other person as the [board] referee, as hereinafter
6 provided, may direct. If there be no guardian or committee of
7 any minor, dependent, or insane employe, or dependent, on whose
8 account compensation is payable, the amount payable on account
9 of such minor, dependent, or insane employe, or dependent may be
10 paid to any surviving parent, or to such other person as the
11 [board] referee may order and direct, and the [board] referee
12 may require any person, other than a guardian or committee, to
13 whom [it] he has directed compensation for a minor, dependent,
14 or insane employe, or dependent to be paid, to render, as and
15 when [it] he shall so order, accounts of the receipts and
16 disbursements of such person, and to file with [it] the referee
17 a satisfactory bond in a sum sufficient to secure the proper
18 application of the moneys received by such person.
19 Section 2. Section 314 of the act, amended December 1, 1959
20 (P.L.1678, No.619), is amended to read:
21 Section 314. At any time after disability begins, the
22 employe must submit himself for examination, at some reasonable
23 time and place, to a physician or physicians legally authorized
24 to practice under the laws of such place, who shall be selected
25 and paid by the employer, or the Commonwealth, and the report of
26 the examination of the physician, with his testimony, shall be
27 made a part of the record before a claim for disability shall be
28 allowed by the referee of the Board: Provided, That in the case
29 where there has been an examination by a physician selected and
30 paid for by the Commonwealth, there shall be, in addition an
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1 examination by an independent physician selected and paid for by
2 the employer, who shall file a report and testify and who shall
3 not be allowed under any circumstances to adopt the report or
4 the testimony or the examination of the physician of any other
5 party. If the employe shall refuse to submit to the examination
6 by the physician or physicians selected by the employer or the
7 Commonwealth, [the board] a referee shall order the employe to
8 submit to an examination at a time and place set by [it] him and
9 by the physician or physicians selected and paid by the employer
10 or the Commonwealth, or by a physician or physicians designated
11 by [it] him and paid by the employer or the Commonwealth. The
12 [board] referee may at any time after such first examination
13 order the employe to submit himself to such further examinations
14 as [it] he shall deem reasonable and necessary, at such times
15 and places and by such physicians as [it] he may designate; and,
16 in such case, the employer or the Commonwealth shall pay the
17 fees and expenses of the examining physician or physicians, and
18 the reasonable traveling expenses and loss of wages incurred by
19 the employe in order to submit himself to such examination. The
20 refusal or neglect, without reasonable cause or excuse, of the
21 employe to submit to such examination ordered by the [board]
22 referee, either before or after an agreement or award, shall
23 deprive him of the right to compensation under this article,
24 during the continuance of such refusal or neglect, and the
25 period of such neglect or refusal shall be deducted from the
26 period during which compensation would otherwise be payable.
27 The employe shall be entitled to have a physician or
28 physicians of his own selection, to be paid by him, participate
29 in any examination ordered by the [board] referee.
30 Section 3. Section 316 of the act, amended February 28, 1956
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1 (P.L.1095, No.355), is amended to read:
2 Section 316. The compensation contemplated by this article
3 may at any time be commuted by [the board] a referee, at its
4 then value when discounted at five per centum interest, with
5 annual rests, upon application of either party, with due notice
6 to the other, if it appear that such commutation will be for the
7 best interest of the employe or the dependents of the deceased
8 employe, and that it will avoid undue expense or undue hardship
9 to either party, or that such employe or dependent has removed
10 or is about to remove from the United States, or that the
11 employer has sold or otherwise disposed of the whole or the
12 greater part of his business or assets: Provided, however, That
13 unless the employer agrees to make such commutation, the [board]
14 referee may require the employe or the dependents of the
15 deceased employe to furnish proper indemnity safeguarding the
16 employer's rights.
17 Section 4. Section 317 of the act is amended to read:
18 Section 317. At any time after the approval of an agreement
19 or after the entry of the award, a sum equal to all future
20 instalments of compensation may (where death or the nature of
21 the disability renders the amount of future payments certain),
22 with the approval of the [board] referee, be paid by the
23 employer to any savings bank, trust company, or life insurance
24 company, in good standing and authorized to do business in this
25 Commonwealth, and such sum, together with all interest thereon,
26 shall thereafter be held in trust for the employe or the
27 dependents of the employe, who shall have no further recourse
28 against the employer. The payment of such sum by the employer,
29 evidenced by the receipt of the trustee noted upon the
30 prothonotary's docket, shall operate as a satisfaction of said
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1 award as to the employer. Payments from said fund shall be made
2 by the trustee in the same amounts and at the same periods as
3 are herein required of the employer, until said fund and
4 interest shall be exhausted. In the appointment of the trustee
5 preference shall be given, in the discretion of the [board]
6 referee, to the choice of the employe or the dependents of the
7 deceased employe. Should, however, there remain any unexpended
8 balance of any fund after the payment of all sums due under this
9 act, such balance shall be repaid to the employer who made the
10 original payment, or to his legal representatives.
11 Section 5. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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