Ohio House Okays Workers’ Comp Bureau, Industrial Panel Budgets
- The Ohio House of Representatives passed House Bill 80 and House Bill 81, the biennial budgets for the Industrial Commission and the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation covering fiscal years 2026 and 2027, both funded through employer premiums and surcharges rather than general state revenue.
- House Bill 81 removes the current five-year limit on repairing or replacing prosthetic devices tied to workplace injury claims, allowing the BWC to continue funding prosthetic repairs even after a claim’s official life has expired, since prosthetics typically outlast the claim period.
- The BWC bill also updates the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program’s handling of injuries to incarcerated workers, eases the process for employers using professional employer organizations to return to the state insurance fund, and renames the BWC’s ombudsperson system to the Workers’ Compensation Customer Advocacy Office.
- House Bill 80 funds the Industrial Commission, which resolves disputes over workers’ compensation benefits. The bill also includes plans to improve electronic hearing processes and expand remote hearing options.
- Both bills now head to the Ohio Senate for consideration.
Court: Dependency at Time of Injury, Not Death, Determines Survivor Benefit Eligibility
- The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine ruled in Brewster v. Warren that eligibility for workers’ compensation death benefits depends on whether a spouse was a dependent at the time of the employee’s original workplace injury, not at the time of the worker’s eventual death.
- Carol Brewster’s ex-husband was injured in a 1985 workplace fall while they were married; the couple divorced in 1997 with no spousal support award, and Brewster remarried in 2011, while her ex-husband’s condition continued to affect him, eventually contributing to his death in 2020, after which she filed for death benefits as a dependent.
- The court held that because Maine’s statutory framework doesn’t require ongoing dependency or marital status through the date of death, Brewster’s subsequent divorce and remarriage did not disqualify her from benefits tied to the 1985 injury.
- The ruling means employers and insurers can face death-benefit liability tied to a workplace injury for decades, even after the claimant’s legal relationship to the injured worker has ended through divorce or remarriage.