THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY FARRY, MURPHY, BARRAR, DiGIROLAMO, MARSHALL, O'NEILL, BISHOP, BRADFORD, CALTAGIRONE, CLYMER, COHEN, D. COSTA, DALEY, DAVIS, DEASY, J. EVANS, EVERETT, FLECK, GIBBONS, GINGRICH, GOODMAN, GROVE, HALUSKA, HARKINS, HESS, HORNAMAN, JOSEPHS, W. KELLER, KOTIK, KULA, LONGIETTI, MANN, MASSER, McGEEHAN, MICCARELLI, MICOZZIE, M. O'BRIEN, PETRARCA, PYLE, QUIGLEY, REICHLEY, SABATINA, J. TAYLOR, TOOHIL, VULAKOVICH, WAGNER, GEIST, WATSON, KIRKLAND, B. BOYLE AND DeLUCA, MARCH 3, 2011

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, MARCH 3, 2011  

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.

* * *

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

exposure to a known carcinogen which is recognized as a Group 1

carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Section 2.  Section 301(c) of the act, amended December 5,

1974 (P.L.782, No.263) and July 2, 1993 (P.L.190, No.44), is

amended and the section is amended by adding a subsection to

read:

Section 301.  * * *

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

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

regardless of his previous physical condition, except as

provided under subsection (f), 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 continuous firefighting duties, who can

establish direct exposure to a carcinogen referred to in section

108(r) relating to cancer by a firefighter and have successfully

passed a physical examination prior to asserting a claim under

this subsection or prior to engaging in firefighting duties and

the examination failed to reveal any evidence of the condition

of cancer. The presumption of this subsection may be rebutted by 

substantial competent evidence that shows that the firefighter's

cancer was not caused by the occupation of firefighting. Any

claim made by a member of a volunteer fire company shall be

based on evidence of direct exposure to a carcinogen referred to

in section 108(r) as documented by reports filed pursuant to the

Pennsylvania Fire Information Reporting System and provided that

the member's claim is based on direct exposure to a carcinogen

referred to in section 108(r). Notwithstanding the limitation

under 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 the

hazards of disease, claims filed pursuant to cancer suffered by

the firefighter under section 108(r) may be made within six

hundred weeks after the last date of employment in an occupation

or industry to which a claimant was exposed to the hazards of

disease. The presumption provided for under this subsection

shall only apply to claims made within the first three hundred

weeks.

Section 3.  The Department of Labor and Industry shall submit

data on the amount of successful claims processed under section

301(f) to the chairman and minority chairman of the Labor and

Industry Committee of the Senate and to the chairman and

minority chairman of the Labor and Industry Committee of the

House of Representatives two years following the adoption of

this act and every two years thereafter.

Section 4.  The provisions of this act shall apply to claims

filed on or after the effective date of this section.

Section 5.  This act shall take effect immediately.