Sec. 3. Retroactivity. Notwithstanding the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 1, section 302, this Act applies retroactively to permanent impairment assessments made under Title 39-A, section 213 for injuries subject to section 213 and to all pending proceedings.

SUMMARY

The Maine Workers' Compensation Act of 1992, the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 39-A, Part 1, requires in section 213 that 25% of all injured workers with permanent partial injuries be eligible to receive benefits for the duration of the disability. The remaining 75% of injured workers with less serious, permanent partial injuries are subject to a durational benefit cap that is currently 364 weeks. The cases that fall within the 25% band are some of the most expensive cases in the system. Any changes that affect eligibility for unlimited durational benefits without a corresponding adjustment to the eligibility threshold will significantly increase the total system costs.

The purpose of this bill is to maintain the requirement contained in the Maine Workers' Compensation Act of 1992, section 213 that 25% of workers' compensation cases involving permanent injury be eligible for duration-of-disability benefits rather than the durational benefit cap. This bill clarifies that, when the board collects permanent impairment data to determine the point at which 25% of cases will be eligible for duration-of- disability benefits, the data may not include permanent impairment that is unrelated to the work injury at issue even if such permanent impairment combines with the work injury to give rise to a compensable disability. It also confirms that this same standard applies for the purposes of determining whether an individual case involves permanent impairment sufficient to exceed the permanent impairment threshold established in the Workers' Compensation Act, section 213. To this extent, this bill overturns the decision of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in Kotch v. American Protective Services, Inc. 2002 ME 19, which interpreted the law to permit preexisting conditions that are not related to the work injury to be considered in determining eligibility for duration-of-disability wage loss benefits. The bill also provides guidance to the Workers' Compensation Board concerning the collection of permanent impairment data on a prospective basis.

This bill applies retroactively to all injuries occurring on or after January 1, 1993 and to pending proceedings; an exception from the general prohibition against application of legislation to matters pending at the time of passage or amendment is provided.