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February 1984, Vol. 107, No.
2
Workers' compensation:
significant enactments in 1983
It was a heavy year for State workers' compensation legislation, except in Kentucky where the legislature did not meet.1 More than 1,100 proposals were introduced and 232 enacted. The enactments dealt primarily with coverage, benefits, occupational disease, rehabilitation, insurance, and the creation of various funds.
Beginning January 1, 1984, Alaska will become the third State, after Iowa and Michigan, to establish maximum weekly benefit levels for disability and death at 80 percent of spendable earnings. Spendable earnings are defined as the employee's gross wage less State and Federal income taxes and social security, where appropriate. Previously, maximum weekly compensation in these States was established at 66 2/3 percent of the employee's average weekly wages before taxes. In New Hampshire, the percentage of the State's average weekly wage used in determining maximum weekly compensation for disability and death was raised from 100 to 150 percent.
Forty-five States and the Virgin Islands increased their maximum weekly compensation for total disability and death while eight jurisdictions increased allowances for burial expenses. One State's law was amended to change compensation for death from a statutory amount to 100 percent of the State's average weekly wage.
This excerpt is from an article published in the February 1984 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.
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Footnotes
1 The legislatures of California, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia convened in 1983 but workers' compensation changes were relatively minor, and are not discussed in the State-by-State summary of significant amendments to workers' compensation laws. Kentucky was the only State in which the legislature did not meet in 1983.
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