2001 SESSION

01-2111

01/10

HOUSE BILL 1130

COMMITTEE: Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services

ANALYSIS

This bill increases the rate of workers' compensation from 60 percent to 66.67 percent.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

01-2111

01/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand One

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Rate Increased. Amend RSA 281-A:28, II to read as follows:

II. If an employee's average weekly wage is over 30 percent of the state's average weekly wage, weekly compensation shall be [60] 66.67 percent of that employee's average weekly wage or 30 percent of the state's average weekly wage, whichever is greater, but in no event shall weekly compensation exceed 150 percent of the state's average weekly wage rounded off to the nearest dollar as the commissioner determines for the year in which the injury occurred. In no event shall the maximum weekly compensation rate exceed 100 percent of the employee's after tax weekly earnings as determined under RSA 281-A:15. For purposes of this section, the department of employment security shall establish the state's average weekly wage for the immediate preceding calendar year to be effective the following July 1.

2 Rate Increased. Amend RSA 281-A:28-a, II to read as follows:

II. If an employee's average weekly wage is over 30 percent of the state's average weekly wage, weekly compensation shall be [60] 66.67 percent of the employee's average weekly wage or 30 percent of the state's average weekly wage, whichever is greater, but in no event shall weekly compensation exceed 150 percent of the state's average weekly wage rounded off to the nearest dollar as determined by the commissioner for the year in which the injury occurred. In no event shall the weekly compensation rate exceed 100 percent of the employee's after tax weekly earnings as determined pursuant to RSA 281-A:15. For the purposes of this section, the state's average weekly wage shall be established by the department of employment security for the immediately preceding calendar year to be effective the following July 1.

3 Rate Increased. Amend RSA 281-A:31 to read as follows:

281-A:31 Compensation for Temporary Partial Disability. If the disability for work resulting from an injury is partial, and the employee is able to work but has not yet reached maximum medical improvement, the employer, or the employer's insurance carrier, during such disability, but not for the first 3 days of disability unless the disability continues for 14 days or longer, shall pay to the injured employee a weekly compensation equal to [60] 66.67 percent of the difference between the employee's average weekly wage before the injury and the average weekly wage which he or she is able to earn thereafter; but in no instance shall the weekly compensation exceed the amount set forth by the compensation schedule in RSA 281-A:28. Payments shall not continue after the disability ends, nor longer than 262 weeks; and, if the partial disability begins after a period of total disability, the period of total disability shall be deducted from such total period of 262 weeks.

4 Rate Increased. Amend RSA 281-A:31-a to read as follows:

281-A:31-a Compensation for Permanent Partial Disability. Where the disability for work resulting from an injury is permanent but partial in nature, the employee has reached maximum medical improvement, is able to return to work, and there is an impairment in accordance with the "Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment" published by the American Medical Association as set forth in RSA 281-A:32, the employer, or insurance carrier, during such disability shall pay to the injured employee a weekly compensation equal to [60] 66.67 percent of the difference between [his] the employee's average weekly wage before the injury and the average weekly wage which [he] the employee is able to earn thereafter. However, in no instance shall the weekly compensation exceed the amounts set forth by the compensation schedule in RSA 281-A:28. Payments shall not continue after the disability ends, nor longer than 262 weeks; and if the partial disability begins after a period of total disability, the period of disability shall be deducted from such total period of 262 weeks.

5 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.