(REPRINTED WITH ADOPTED AMENDMENTS) SECOND REPRINT
Assembly Bill No. 466-Assemblymen Krenzer, Evans, Arberry, Hettrick, Manendo, Price, Cegavske, Sandoval, Mortenson, Collins, Chowning, Ernaut, Anderson, Lambert, Parks, Braunlin, Koivisto, Tiffany, Hickey, Lee, Carpenter, Goldwater, Herrera, Williams, Buckley, Neighbors, Giunchigliani, Von Tobel, Berman, Ohrenschall, Amodei, Perkins and Close
May 8, 1997
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Referred to Committee on Labor and Management
SUMMARY--Authorizes employers to request medical examinations of injured workers and requires that certain tests of injured workers be performed pursuant to national standards. (BDR 53-822)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: Yes.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to industrial insurance; authorizing employers to request medical examinations of injured workers; requiring in certain counties that a test of an injured worker for the use of alcohol or a controlled substance be performed pursuant to national standards; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1 NRS 616C.140 is hereby amended to read as follows:
616C.1401. Any employee who is entitled to receive compensation under chapters 616A to 616D, inclusive, of NRS shall, if:
(a) Requested by the insurer [;] or employer; or
(b) Ordered by an appeals officer or a hearing officer,
submit himself for medical examination at a time and from time to time at a place reasonably convenient for the employee, and as may be provided by the regulations of the division.
2. If the insurer has reasonable cause to believe that an injured employee who is receiving compensation for a permanent total disability is no longer disabled, the insurer may request the employee to submit to an annual medical examination to determine whether the disability still exists. The insurer shall pay the costs of the examination.
3. The request or order for an examination must fix a time and place therefor, with due regard for the nature of the medical examination, the convenience of the employee, his physical condition and his ability to attend at the time and place fixed.
4. The employee is entitled to have a physician or chiropractor, provided and paid for by him, present at any such examination.
5. If the employee refuses to submit to an examination ordered or requested pursuant to subsection 1 or 2 or obstructs the examination, his right to compensation is suspended until the examination has taken place, and no compensation is payable during or for the period of suspension.
6. Any physician or chiropractor who makes or is present at any such examination may be required to testify as to the result thereof.
Sec. 2. NRS 616C.230 is hereby amended to read as follows:
616C.230 1. Compensation is not payable pursuant to the provisions of chapters 616A to 616D, inclusive, of NRS for an injury:
(a) Caused by the employee's willful intention to injure himself.
(b) Caused by the employee's willful intention to injure another.
(c) Proximately caused by the employee's intoxication. If the employee was intoxicated at the time of his injury, intoxication must be presumed to be a proximate cause unless rebutted by evidence to the contrary.
(d) Proximately caused by the employee's use of a controlled substance. If the employee had any amount of a controlled substance in his system at the time of his injury for which the employee did not have a current and lawful prescription issued in his name, the controlled substance must be presumed to be a proximate cause unless rebutted by evidence to the contrary.
2. For the purposes of paragraphs (c) and (d) [, the] of subsection 1:
(a) The affidavit of an expert or other person described in NRS 50.315 is admissible to prove the existence of any alcohol or the existence, quantity or identity of a controlled substance in an employee's system. If the affidavit is to be so used, it must be submitted in the manner prescribed in NRS 616C.355.
[2.] (b) When an examination requested or ordered includes testing for the use of alcohol or a controlled substance:
(1) If the laboratory that conducts the testing is located in a county whose population is 100,000 or more and the testing is of urine, the laboratory must be certified for forensic testing of urine for drugs by the College of American Pathologists or a successor organization or by the federal Department of Health and Human Services; and
(2) Any such testing of breath for alcohol must be performed pursuant to the regulations of the federal Department of Transportation.
3. No compensation is payable for the death, disability or treatment of an employee if his death is caused by, or insofar as his disability is aggravated, caused or continued by, an unreasonable refusal or neglect to submit to or to follow any competent and reasonable surgical treatment or medical aid.
[3.] 4. If any employee persists in an unsanitary or injurious practice that imperils or retards his recovery, or refuses to submit to such medical or surgical treatment as is necessary to promote his recovery, his compensation may be reduced or suspended.
[4.] 5. An injured employee's compensation, other than accident benefits, must be suspended if:
(a) A physician or chiropractor determines that the employee is unable to undergo treatment, testing or examination for the industrial injury solely because of a condition or injury that did not arise out of and in the course of his employment; and
(b) It is within the ability of the employee to correct the nonindustrial condition or injury.
The compensation must be suspended until the injured employee is able to resume treatment, testing or examination for the industrial injury. The insurer may elect to pay for the treatment of the nonindustrial condition or injury.
Sec. 3. This act becomes effective on July 1, 1999.