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Arline v. Administrator9/26/2000
atters, we are consistently bound by the mandate of R.C. 4123.95. The statute reads:
Sections 4123.01 to 4123.94, inclusive, of the Revised Code shall be liberally construed in favor of employees and the dependents of deceased employees.
This statutory mandate is in accord with the purpose of workers' compensation. Workers' compensation is intended to be a simple, efficient system of assuring that people who are injured on the job are fairly compensated and receive the medical treatment they need. Workers' compensation was not created to maximize business profits or to provide political benefit to those who administer the system.
Since the BWC has installed as a practical matter a requirement that the First Report of Injury, Occupational Disease or Death forms be submitted to employers, whether state-fund or self-insuring, before the form is to be processed by the BWC, we find that employers are deemed as agents of the BWC for purposes of R.C. 4123.84. When an injured worker provides the form to the employer before the expiration of the two-year limit, the form is deemed to have been provided to the BWC for purposes of R.C. 4123.84.
We note that Ohio Adm.Code 4123-3-03(A) already requires employers to " * keep a record of all injuries and occupational diseases resulting in seven days or more of total disability or death and * report them to the bureau of workers' compensation within one week of acquiring knowledge of such injury or death and within one week after acquiring knowledge of * the occupational disease *."
This provision of the Ohio Administrative Code tracks the language of R.C. 4123.28. However, R.C. 4123.28 continues by stating:
Each day that an employer fails to file a report required by this section constitutes an additional day within the time period given to a claimant by the applicable statute of limitations for the filing of a claim based on the injury or occupational disease, provided that a failure to file a report shall not extend the applicable statute of limitations for more than two additional years.
Thus, for workers who claim seven or more days of disability, R.C. 4123.28 has the effect of causing notice to the BWC to occur promptly from the employer or an extension of time to file to occur automatically. We believe a similar extension should apply to injured workers who have continued to work despite their injuries.
The legitimate purpose of R.C. 4123.84 is to provide prompt notice to the BWC of claims and potential claims from injured workers. The purpose of R.C. 4123.84 is not to arbitrarily present a bar to receipt of benefits for workers who are injured on the job. The purpose of R.C. 4123.84 is definitely not to reward employers who delay processing and forwarding the paperwork which the BWC requires. We believe our interpretation of R.C. 4123.84 does not thwart the legitimate purposes of the statute while at the same time avoiding rewards for those who do or could thwart the legitimate purposes of the statute by slowing the processing of the First Report of an Injury, Occupational Disease or Death.
If the BWC foresees significant problems resulting from the employers being deemed agents of the BWC for purposes of R.C. 4123.84, various solutions are possible. Time requirements for processing of the paperwork by employers could be created where they do not already exist and the time limits for employers could be enforced.
A second option is to modify the First Report of an Injury, Occupational Disease or Death Form so the injured worker is not responsible for providing the original copy of the form to the treatment provider and to the employer befor
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