Hawaii Revised Statutes 386. Workers' Compensation Law

PART I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

  • 386-1 Definitions.
    In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: "Able to resume work" means an industrially injured worker's injury has stabilized after a period of...
  • 386-2 Definitions Relating to Family Relationships.
    "Brother" or "sister" includes a half brother or half sister, a stepbrother or stepsister, and a brother or sister by adoption. "Child" includes a...
  • 386-3 Injuries Covered.
    (a) If an employee suffers personal injury either by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment or by disease proximately...
  • 386-3.5 Negotiation for Benefit Coverage.
    (a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any employer may determine the benefits and coverage of a policy required under this chapter...
  • 386-4 Voluntary Coverage.
    Any employer who has individuals in the employer's employment who are not employees as defined in section 386-1 may elect to provide coverage for...
  • 386-5 Exclusiveness of Right to Compensation; Exception.
    The rights and remedies herein granted to an employee or the employee's dependents on account of a work injury suffered by the employee shall...
  • 386-6 Territorial Applicability.
    The provisions of this chapter shall be applicable to all work injuries sustained by employees within the territorial boundaries of the State. If an...
  • 386-7 Interstate and Foreign Commerce and Maritime Employment.
    To the extent permissible under the Constitution and the laws of the United States, this chapter shall apply to employees and employers engaged in...
  • 386-8 Liability of Third Person.
    When a work injury for which compensation is payable under this chapter has been sustained under circumstances creating in some person other than the...
  • 386-8.5 Limits of Third Party Liability.
    (a) Section 386-8 and any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, when a work injury for which compensation is payable under this chapter has...
  • 386-9 Contracting Out Forbidden.
    Except as provided in section 386-78, no contract, rule, regulation or device whatsoever shall operate to relieve the employer in whole or in part...
  • 386-10 Out of State Employers.
    Any employer whose principal place of business is outside the State shall, prior to the commencement of employment within the State, register with the...

PART II. COMPENSATION
A. Medical and Rehabilitation Benefits

B. Income and Indemnity Benefits
1. Disability

  • 386-31 Total Disability.
    (a) Permanent total disability. Where a work injury causes permanent total disability the employer shall pay the injured employee a weekly benefit equal to...
  • 386-32 Partial Disability.
    (a) Permanent partial disability. Where a work injury causes permanent partial disability, the employer shall pay the injured worker compensation in an amount determined...
  • 386-33 Subsequent Injuries that Would Increase Disability.
    (a) Where prior to any injury an employee suffers from a previous permanent partial disability already existing prior to the injury for which compensation...
  • 386-34 Payment After Death.
    Where an employee is entitled to weekly income and indemnity benefits for permanent total or permanent partial disability and dies from any cause other...
  • 386-35 Benefit Adjustment.
    (a) Effective January 1, 1992, and January 1 of every tenth year thereafter, any employee whose date of work injury is before January 1,...

2. Death

3. Provisions Common to Benefits for Disability and Death

PART III. ADMINISTRATION

PART IV. SECURITY FOR COMPENSATION; EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS OF
INJURED EMPLOYEES; FUNDS
A. Security for Compensation

B. Employment Rights of Injured Employees

C. Special Compensation Fund

PART V. APPLICABILITY TO HAWAII GUARD, VOLUNTEER PERSONNEL
AND PUBLIC BOARD MEMBERS
A. Hawaii Guard

  • 386-161 Who Entitled to Compensation.
    If a member of the Hawaii national guard or Hawaii state defense force suffers a personal injury arising out of and in the performance...
  • 386-162 Terms Defined.
    "Personal injury", "compensation", and "dependents" within the meaning of section 386-161 has the same meaning as is given to these terms in sections 386-1...
  • 386-163 Administration.
    This part shall be administered by the director of labor and industrial relations. The director may promulgate such additional rules and regulations relative thereto...
  • 386-164 Appropriation.
    So much of the state insurance fund as may be necessary is hereby appropriated for the purpose of section 386-161 and for the purpose...

B. Volunteer Personnel

  • 386-171 Volunteer Personnel, Medical, Etc., Expenses.
    Any person who is injured in performing service for the State or any county in any voluntary or unpaid capacity under the authorized direction of...
  • 386-172 Administration and Procedure.
    Section 386-171 shall be administered by the director of labor and industrial relations. Procedure in respect of claims hereunder, including procedure upon appeals, shall...
  • 386-173 Time for Giving Notice, Etc.
    Any time fixed for giving of notice of injury or for any other substantive purpose as to any injuries within the purview of section...
  • 386-174 Appropriation.
    So much of the state insurance fund as may be necessary is hereby appropriated and shall, with the approval of the governor, be expended...

C. Public Board Members, Reserve Police Officers, Police
Chaplains, Volunteer Firefighters, Volunteer Boating
Enforcement Officers, and Volunteer
Conservation and Resources Enforcement Officers

  • 386-181 Generally.
    Subpart heading amended by L 1987, c 121, §1; L 1996, c 260, §6. §386-181 Generally. (a) As used in this section: "Police chaplain"...

PART VI. SELF-INSURANCE GROUPS

  • 386-191 Scope.
    This part shall apply to workers' compensation self-insurance groups. This part shall not apply to public employees or governmental entities. Groups which are issued...
  • 386-192 Definitions.
    For the purpose of this part: "Administrator" means an individual, partnership, or corporation engaged by a workers' compensation self-insurance group's board of trustees to...
  • 386-193 Authority to Act As Workers' Compensation Self-Insurance Group.
    No person, association, or other entity shall act as a workers' compensation self-insurance group unless it has been issued a certificate of approval by...
  • 386-194 Qualifications for Initial Approval and Continued Authority to Act As a Workers' Compensation Self-Insurance Group.
    (a) A proposed workers' compensation self-insurance group shall file with the insurance commissioner its application for a certificate of approval accompanied by a nonrefundable...
  • 386-195 Certificate of Approval; Termination.
    (a) The certificate of approval issued by the insurance commissioner to a workers' compensation self-insurance group authorizes the group to provide workers' compensation benefits....
  • 386-196 Examinations.
    The insurance commissioner may examine the affairs, transactions, accounts, records, and assets and liabilities of each group as often as the insurance commissioner deems...
  • 386-197 Board of Trustees; Membership, Powers, Duties, and Prohibitions.
    Each group shall be operated by a board of trustees, which shall consist of not less than five persons whom the members of a...
  • 386-198 Group Membership; Termination, Liability.
    (a) An employer joining a workers' compensation self-insurance group after the group has been issued a certificate of approval shall submit an application for...
  • 386-199 Service Companies.
    (a) No service company or its employees, officers, or directors shall be an employee, officer, or director of, or have either a direct or...
  • 386-200 Licensing of Producer
    . Except for a salaried employee of a group, its administrator, or its service company, any person soliciting membership in a workers' compensation self-insurance group...
  • 386-201 Financial Statements and Other Reports.
    (a) Each group shall submit to the insurance commissioner a statement of financial condition audited by an independent certified public accountant on or before...
  • 386-202 Misrepresentation Prohibited.
    No person shall make a material misrepresentation or omission of a material fact in connection with the solicitation of membership of a group. [L...
  • 386-203 Investments.
    Funds not needed for current obligations may be invested by the board of trustees in accordance with sections 431-281 to 431-312. [L 1986, c...
  • 386-204 Rates and Reporting of Rates.
    (a) Every workers' compensation self-insurance group shall adhere to the uniform classification system, uniform experience rating plan, and manual rules filed with the insurance...
  • 386-205 Refunds.
    (a) Any moneys for a fund year in excess of the amount necessary to fund all obligations for that fund year may be declared...
  • 386-206 Premium Payment; Reserves.
    (a) Each group shall establish to the satisfaction of the insurance commissioner a premium payment plan which shall include an initial payment by each...
  • 386-207 Deficits and Insolvencies.
    (a) If the assets of a group are at any time insufficient to enable the group to discharge its legal liabilities and other obligations...
  • 386-208 Guaranty Mechanism.
    In the event of a liquidation pursuant to section 386-207, after exhausting the security required pursuant to section 386-194(b)(2), the insurance commissioner shall levy...
  • 386-209 Monetary Penalties.
    After notice and opportunity for a hearing, the insurance commissioner may impose a monetary penalty on any person or group found to be in...
  • 386-210 Cease and Desist Orders.
    (a) After notice and opportunity for a hearing, the insurance commissioner may issue an order requiring a person or group to cease and desist...
  • 386-211 Revocation of Certificate of Approval.
    (a) After notice and opportunity for a hearing, the insurance commissioner may revoke a group's certificate of approval if the group: (1) Is found...
  • 386-212 Notice and Hearing.
    The insurance commissioner in the administration of this chapter shall comply with chapters 91 and 92 when applicable. [L 1986, c 304, pt of
  • 386-213 Rules.
    The insurance commissioner shall adopt rules in accordance with chapter 91 for the purposes of this chapter. [L 1986, c 304, pt of §1]
  • 386-214 Severability.
    If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof, to any person or circumstance, is subsequently held to be invalid, the invalidity shall...

Note

Chapter heading amended by L 1975, c 41, 1.

This chapter is based on L 1963, c 116, which completely revised and reenacted this chapter. See also L 1975, c 41, 1.

For prior legislative history see: Chapter 97 in RLH 1955, vol 1; L 1957, cc 55, 78, 80, 81, 133, 134, 214, 215, and 216; L 1959, cc 48, 78, 185, 240, and 241; L 1961, cc 3, 5, 99, 115, and 152.

Cross References

Hawaii employers' mutual insurance company, see 431:14A-101 to 431:14A-119.

Leave sharing program, see 78-26.

Attorney General Opinions

Absent explicit inclusion, hanai children were not entitled to statutory benefits under workers' compensation laws. Att. Gen. Op. 93-1.

Neither the disability compensation division (DCD) nor the labor and industrial relations appeals board (LIRAB) is an "entity" for purposes of chapter 323C when it reviews, evaluates, and decides on claims for workers compensation; some provisions of chapter 323C apply to each in its adjudicatory capacity because the DCD and the LIRAB receive protected health information when they process workers compensation claims. Att. Gen. Op. 2000-2.

Law Journals and Reviews

Commentary on Selected Employment and Labor Law Decisions Under the Lum Court. 14 UH L. Rev. 423 (1992).

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Remedies Available to Victims in Hawai i. 15 UH L. Rev. 453 (1993).

Hawai i's Workers' Compensation Scheme: An Employer's License to Kill? 29 UH L. Rev. 211 (2006).

One-Sided Bargain? Assessing the Fairness of Hawai i's Workers' Compensation Law. 31 UH L. Rev. 553 (2009).

The Jones Act Fish Farmer. 33 UH L. Rev. 223 (2010).

Case Notes

Exclusive remedy for assault and battery suffered during work. 634 F. Supp. 684 (1986).

Plaintiff failed to exhaust the administrative remedies provided to plaintiff by this chapter; prior to filing a separate suit for bad faith denial of benefits or payments, plaintiff must first exhaust all available administrative remedies before the department of labor and industrial relations, disability compensation division. 28 F. Supp. 2d 588 (1997).

This chapter does not bar claims based on the intentional conduct of an employer or employee because such claims are not based on "accidents" related to employment; plaintiff's intentional infliction of emotional distress claim not barred by this chapter. 721 F. Supp. 2d 947 (2010).

Workers' compensation law is constitutional. 71 H. 358, 791 P.2d 1257 (1990).

Appeals board correctly determined that consequent medical expenses attributable to claimant's non-industrial motor vehicle accident were not covered by this chapter. 77 H. 152, 883 P.2d 73 (1994).

Claimant not precluded by exclusivity provision of 386-5 from seeking common law tort remedies against employer's insurer where injuries allegedly caused by insurer's denial of medical benefits and disability payments not "work injuries" within scope of this chapter. 83 H. 457, 927 P.2d 858 (1996).

Last modified: October 27, 2016