Definitions; applicability of chapter; exemptions
Sec. 9. (a) As used in this chapter, "employer" includes the state
and any political subdivision, any municipal corporation within the
state, any individual or the legal representative of a deceased
individual, firm, association, limited liability company, or
corporation or the receiver or trustee of the same, using the services
of another for pay. A parent corporation and its subsidiaries shall
each be considered joint employers of the corporation's, the parent's,
or the subsidiaries' employees for purposes of sections 6 and 33 of
this chapter. Both a lessor and a lessee of employees shall each be
considered joint employers of the employees provided by the lessor
to the lessee for purposes of sections 6 and 33 of this chapter. The
term also includes an employer that provides on-the-job training
under the federal School to Work Opportunities Act (20 U.S.C. 6101
et seq.) to the extent set forth under section 2.5 of this chapter. If the
employer is insured, the term includes the employer's insurer so far
as applicable. However, the inclusion of an employer's insurer within
this definition does not allow an employer's insurer to avoid payment
for services rendered to an employee with the approval of the
employer. The term does not include a nonprofit corporation that is
recognized as tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal
Revenue Code (as defined in IC 6-3-1-11(a)) to the extent the
corporation enters into an independent contractor agreement with a
person for the performance of youth coaching services on a part-time
basis.
(b) As used in this chapter, "employee" means every person,
including a minor, in the service of another, under any contract of
hire or apprenticeship written or implied, except one whose
employment is both casual and not in the usual course of the trade,
business, occupation, or profession of the employer. For purposes of
this chapter the following apply:
(1) Any reference to an employee who has suffered
disablement, when the employee is dead, also includes the
employee's legal representative, dependents, and other persons
to whom compensation may be payable.
(2) An owner of a sole proprietorship may elect to include the
owner as an employee under this chapter if the owner is actually
engaged in the proprietorship business. If the owner makes this
election, the owner must serve upon the owner's insurance
carrier and upon the board written notice of the election. No
owner of a sole proprietorship may be considered an employee
under this chapter unless the notice has been received. If the
owner of a sole proprietorship is an independent contractor in
the construction trades and does not make the election provided
under this subdivision, the owner must obtain an affidavit of
exemption under section 34.5 of this chapter.
(3) A partner in a partnership may elect to include the partner
as an employee under this chapter if the partner is actually
engaged in the partnership business. If a partner makes this
election, the partner must serve upon the partner's insurance
carrier and upon the board written notice of the election. No
partner may be considered an employee under this chapter until
the notice has been received. If a partner in a partnership is an
independent contractor in the construction trades and does not
make the election provided under this subdivision, the partner
must obtain an affidavit of exemption under section 34.5 of this
chapter.
(4) Real estate professionals are not employees under this
chapter if:
(A) they are licensed real estate agents;
(B) substantially all their remuneration is directly related to
sales volume and not the number of hours worked; and
(C) they have written agreements with real estate brokers
stating that they are not to be treated as employees for tax
purposes.
(5) A person is an independent contractor in the construction
trades and not an employee under this chapter if the person is an
independent contractor under the guidelines of the United States
Internal Revenue Service.
(6) An owner-operator that provides a motor vehicle and the
services of a driver under a written contract that is subject to
IC 8-2.1-24-23, 45 IAC 16-1-13, or 49 CFR 1057, to a motor
carrier is not an employee of the motor carrier for purposes of
this chapter. The owner-operator may elect to be covered and
have the owner-operator's drivers covered under a worker's
compensation insurance policy or authorized self-insurance that
insures the motor carrier if the owner-operator pays the
premiums as requested by the motor carrier. An election by an
owner-operator under this subdivision does not terminate the
independent contractor status of the owner-operator for any
purpose other than the purpose of this subdivision.
(7) An unpaid participant under the federal School to Work
Opportunities Act (20 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.) is an employee to
the extent set forth under section 2.5 of this chapter.
(8) A person who enters into an independent contractor
agreement with a nonprofit corporation that is recognized as tax
exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
(as defined in IC 6-3-1-11(a)) to perform youth coaching
services on a part-time basis is not an employee for purposes of
this chapter.
(c) As used in this chapter, "minor" means an individual who has
not reached seventeen (17) years of age. A minor employee shall be
considered as being of full age for all purposes of this chapter.
However, if the employee is a minor who, at the time of the last
exposure, is employed, required, suffered, or permitted to work in
violation of the child labor laws of this state, the amount of
compensation and death benefits, as provided in this chapter, shall be
double the amount which would otherwise be recoverable. The
insurance carrier shall be liable on its policy for one-half (1/2) of the
compensation or benefits that may be payable on account of the
disability or death of the minor, and the employer shall be wholly
liable for the other one-half (1/2) of the compensation or benefits. If
the employee is a minor who is not less than sixteen (16) years of age
and who has not reached seventeen (17) years of age, and who at the
time of the last exposure is employed, suffered, or permitted to work
at any occupation which is not prohibited by law, the provisions of
this subsection prescribing double the amount otherwise recoverable
do not apply. The rights and remedies granted to a minor under this
chapter on account of disease shall exclude all rights and remedies
of the minor, his parents, his personal representatives, dependents,
or next of kin at common law, statutory or otherwise, on account of
any disease.
(d) This chapter does not apply to casual laborers as defined in
subsection (b), nor to farm or agricultural employees, nor to
household employees, nor to railroad employees engaged in train
service as engineers, firemen, conductors, brakemen, flagmen,
baggagemen, or foremen in charge of yard engines and helpers
assigned thereto, nor to their employers with respect to these
employees. Also, this chapter does not apply to employees or their
employers with respect to employments in which the laws of the
United States provide for compensation or liability for injury to the
health, disability, or death by reason of diseases suffered by these
employees.
(e) As used in this chapter, "disablement" means the event of
becoming disabled from earning full wages at the work in which the
employee was engaged when last exposed to the hazards of the
occupational disease by the employer from whom the employee
claims compensation or equal wages in other suitable employment,
and "disability" means the state of being so incapacitated.
(f) For the purposes of this chapter, no compensation shall be
payable for or on account of any occupational diseases unless
disablement, as defined in subsection (e), occurs within two (2) years
after the last day of the last exposure to the hazards of the disease
except for the following:
(1) In all cases of occupational diseases caused by the
inhalation of silica dust or coal dust, no compensation shall be
payable unless disablement, as defined in subsection (e), occurs
within three (3) years after the last day of the last exposure to
the hazards of the disease.
(2) In all cases of occupational disease caused by the exposure
to radiation, no compensation shall be payable unless
disablement, as defined in subsection (e), occurs within two (2)
years from the date on which the employee had knowledge of
the nature of the employee's occupational disease or, by
exercise of reasonable diligence, should have known of the
existence of such disease and its causal relationship to the
employee's employment.
(3) In all cases of occupational diseases caused by the
inhalation of asbestos dust, no compensation shall be payable
unless disablement, as defined in subsection (e), occurs within
three (3) years after the last day of the last exposure to the
hazards of the disease if the last day of the last exposure was
before July 1, 1985.
(4) In all cases of occupational disease caused by the inhalation
of asbestos dust in which the last date of the last exposure
occurs on or after July 1, 1985, and before July 1, 1988, no
compensation shall be payable unless disablement, as defined
in subsection (e), occurs within twenty (20) years after the last
day of the last exposure.
(5) In all cases of occupational disease caused by the inhalation
of asbestos dust in which the last date of the last exposure
occurs on or after July 1, 1988, no compensation shall be
payable unless disablement (as defined in subsection (e)) occurs
within thirty-five (35) years after the last day of the last
exposure.
(g) For the purposes of this chapter, no compensation shall be
payable for or on account of death resulting from any occupational
disease unless death occurs within two (2) years after the date of
disablement. However, this subsection does not bar compensation for
death:
(1) where death occurs during the pendency of a claim filed by
an employee within two (2) years after the date of disablement
and which claim has not resulted in a decision or has resulted in
a decision which is in process of review or appeal; or
(2) where, by agreement filed or decision rendered, a
compensable period of disability has been fixed and death
occurs within two (2) years after the end of such fixed period,
but in no event later than three hundred (300) weeks after the
date of disablement.
(h) As used in this chapter, "billing review service" refers to a
person or an entity that reviews a medical service provider's bills or
statements for the purpose of determining pecuniary liability. The
term includes an employer's worker's compensation insurance carrier
if the insurance carrier performs such a review.
(i) As used in this chapter, "billing review standard" means the
data used by a billing review service to determine pecuniary liability.
(j) As used in this chapter, "community" means a geographic
service area based on zip code districts defined by the United States
Postal Service according to the following groupings:
(1) The geographic service area served by zip codes with the
first three (3) digits 463 and 464.
(2) The geographic service area served by zip codes with the
first three (3) digits 465 and 466.
(3) The geographic service area served by zip codes with the
first three (3) digits 467 and 468.
(4) The geographic service area served by zip codes with the
first three (3) digits 469 and 479.
(5) The geographic service area served by zip codes with the
first three (3) digits 460, 461 (except 46107), and 473.
(6) The geographic service area served by the 46107 zip code
and zip codes with the first three (3) digits 462.
(7) The geographic service area served by zip codes with the
first three (3) digits 470, 471, 472, 474, and 478.
(8) The geographic service area served by zip codes with the
first three (3) digits 475, 476, and 477.
(k) As used in this chapter, "medical service provider" refers to a
person or an entity that provides medical services, treatment, or
supplies to an employee under this chapter.
(l) As used in this chapter, "pecuniary liability" means the
responsibility of an employer or the employer's insurance carrier for
the payment of the charges for each specific service or product for
human medical treatment provided under this chapter in a defined
community, equal to or less than the charges made by medical
service providers at the eightieth percentile in the same community
for like services or products.
(Formerly: Acts 1937, c.69, s.5; Acts 1955, c.131, s.1; Acts 1955,
c.195, s.1; Acts 1961, c.240, s.1; Acts 1963, c.48, s.16; Acts 1969,
c.101, s.1; Acts 1974, P.L.109, SEC.3.) As amended by Acts 1979,
P.L.228, SEC.2; P.L.224-1985, SEC.1; P.L.95-1988, SEC.12;
P.L.75-1993, SEC.5; P.L.8-1993, SEC.284; P.L.1-1994, SEC.111;
P.L.110-1995, SEC.34; P.L.216-1995, SEC.5; P.L.2-1996, SEC.266;
P.L.258-1997(ss), SEC.13; P.L.235-1999, SEC.7; P.L.31-2000,
SEC.7; P.L.202-2001, SEC.8; P.L.201-2005, SEC.7.
Last modified: May 27, 2006