2005 North Carolina Code - General Statutes Article 12A - Law-Enforcement Officers\', Firemen\'s, Rescue Squad Workers\' and Civil Air Patrol Members\' Death Benefits Act.

Article 12A.

Law‑Enforcement Officers', Firemen's, Rescue Squad Workers' and Civil Air Patrol Members' Death Benefits Act.

§ 143‑166.1.� Purpose.

In consideration of hazardous public service rendered to the people of this State, there is hereby provided a system of benefits for dependents of law‑enforcement officers, firemen, rescue squad workers and senior Civil Air Patrol members killed in the discharge of their official duties. (1959, c. 1323, s. 1; 1965, c. 937; 1973, c. 634, s. 2; 1975, c. 284, s. 6; 1977, c. 797; 1983, c. 761, s. 236.)

 

§ 143‑166.2.� Definitions.

(a)������ The term "dependent child" shall mean any unmarried child of the deceased officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior member of the Civil Air Patrol whether natural, adopted, posthumously born or whether an illegitimate child as entitled to inherit under the Intestate Succession Act, who is under 18 years of age and dependent upon and receiving his chief support from said officer or fireman or rescue squad worker or senior member of the Civil Air Patrol at the time of his death; provided, however, that if a dependent child is entitled to receive benefits at the time of the officer's or fireman's or rescue squad worker's or senior Civil Air Patrol member's death as hereinafter provided, he shall continue to be eligible to receive such benefits regardless of his age thereafter; and further provided that any child over 18 years of age who is physically or mentally incapable of earning a living and any child over 18 years of age who was enrolled as a full‑time student at the time of the officer's, the fireman's, the rescue squad worker's or the senior Civil Air Patrol member's death shall so long as he remains a full‑time student as defined in the Social Security Act be regarded as a dependent child and eligible to receive benefits under the provisions of this Article.

(b)������ The term "dependent parent" shall mean the parent of the deceased officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior member of the Civil Air Patrol, whether natural or adoptive, who was dependent upon and receiving his total and entire support from the officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior member of the Civil Air Patrol at the time of the injury which resulted in his death.

(c)������ The term "killed in the line of duty" shall apply to any law‑enforcement officer, fireman, rescue squad worker who is killed or dies as a result of bodily injuries sustained or of extreme exercise or extreme activity experienced in the course and scope of his official duties while in the discharge of his official duty or duties. When applied to a senior member of the Civil Air Patrol as defined in this Article, "killed in the line of duty" shall mean any such senior member of the North Carolina Wing‑Civil Air Patrol who is killed or dies as a result of bodily injuries sustained or of extreme exercise or extreme activity experienced in the course and scope of his official duties while engaged in a State requested and approved mission pursuant to Article 11 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes. For purposes of this Article, when a law enforcement officer, fireman, rescue squad worker, or senior Civil Air Patrol member dies as the direct and proximate result of a myocardial infarction suffered while on duty or within 24 hours after participating in a training exercise or responding to an emergency situation, the law enforcement officer, fireman, rescue squad worker, or senior Civil Air Patrol member is presumed to have been killed in the line of duty.

(d)������ The term "law‑enforcement officer", "officer", or "fireman" shall mean a sheriff and all law‑enforcement officers employed full‑time, permanent part‑time, or temporarily by a sheriff, the State of North Carolina or any county or municipality thereof, whether paid or unpaid; and all full‑time custodial employees and probation and parole officers of the North Carolina Department of Correction; and all full time institutional and full‑time, permanent part‑time, and temporary detention employees of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and full‑time, permanent part‑time, and temporary detention officers employed by any sheriff, county or municipality, whether paid or unpaid. The term "firemen" shall mean both "eligible fireman"; or "fireman" as defined in G.S. 58‑86‑25 and all full‑time, permanent part‑time and temporary employees of the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, during the time they are actively engaged in fire‑fighting activities; and shall mean all full‑time employees of the North Carolina Department of Insurance during the time they are actively engaged in fire‑fighting activities, during the time they are training fire fighters or rescue squad workers, and during the time they are engaged in activities as members of the State Emergency Response Team, when the Team has been activated. The term "rescue squad worker" shall mean a person who is dedicated to the purpose of alleviating human suffering and assisting anyone who is in difficulty or who is injured or becomes suddenly ill by providing the proper and efficient care or emergency medical services. In addition, this person must belong to an organized rescue squad which is eligible for membership in the North Carolina Association of Rescue Squads, Inc., and the person must have attended a minimum of 36 hours of training and meetings in the last calendar year. Each rescue squad belonging to the North Carolina Association of Rescue Squads, Inc., must file a roster of those members meeting the above requirements with the State Treasurer on or about January 1 of each year, and this roster must be certified to by the secretary of said association. In addition, the term "rescue squad worker" shall mean a member of an ambulance service certified by the Department of Health and Human Services pursuant to Article 7 of Chapter 131E of the General Statutes. The Department of Health and Human Services shall furnish a list of ambulance service members to the State Treasurer on or about January 1 of each year. The term "Civil Air Patrol members" shall mean those senior members of the North Carolina Wing‑Civil Air Patrol 18 years of age or older and currently certified pursuant to G.S. 143B‑491(a). The term "fireman" shall also mean county fire marshals when engaged in the performance of their county duties. The term "rescue squad worker" shall also mean county emergency services coordinators when engaged in the performance of their county duties.

(e)������ The term "spouse" shall mean the wife or husband of the deceased officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member who survives him and who was residing with such officer, fireman, rescue squad worker, or senior Civil Air Patrol member at the time of and during the six months next preceding the date of injury to such officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member which resulted in his death and who also resided with such officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member from that date of injury up to and at the time of his death and who remains unmarried during the time benefits are forthcoming; provided, however, the part of this section requiring the spouse to have been residing with the deceased officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member for six months next preceding the date of the injury which resulted in his death shall not apply where marriage occurred during this six‑month period or where the officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member was absent during this six‑month period due to service in the armed forces of this country.

(f)������� The term "official duties" means those duties performed while en route to, engaged in, or returning from training, or in the course of responding to, engaged in or returning from a call by the department of which he is a member, or from a call for assistance from any department or such organization within the State of North Carolina or within a service area contiguous to the borders of the State of North Carolina, when served or aided by a department from within the State of North Carolina. While within the State of North Carolina, any eligible person, as defined in this section or in G.S. 58‑86‑25, who renders service or assistance, of his own volition, at the scene of an emergency, is performing his official duties when:

(1)������ Reasonably apparent circumstances require prompt decisions and actions to protect persons and property; and

(2)������ The necessity of immediate action is so reasonably apparent that any delay in acting would seriously worsen the property damage or endanger any person's life. (1959, c. 1323, s. 1; 1965, c. 937; 1969, c. 1025; 1973, c. 634, s. 2; c. 955, ss. 1, 2; 1975, c. 19, s. 49; c. 284, s. 7; 1977, c. 1048; 1979, c. 516, ss. 2, 3; c. 869; 1981, c. 944, s. 1; 1983, c. 761, s. 237; 1987, c. 812; 1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 1050, s. 1; 1989, c. 727, s. 218(97); 1989 (Reg. Sess., 1990), c. 1024, s. 32; 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 833, s. 5; 1997‑443, ss. 11A.118(a), 11A.119(a); 2000‑137, s. 4(y); 2003‑284, s. 30.18A(b); 2004‑124, s. 31.18C(a); 2005‑276, s. 29.30C; 2005‑376, s. 1.)

 

§ 143‑166.3.� Payments; determination.

(a)������ When any law‑enforcement officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member shall be killed in the line of duty, the Industrial Commission shall award a death benefit to be paid in the amounts set forth in subsection (b) to the following:

(1)������ The spouse of such officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member if there be a surviving spouse; or

(2)������ If there be no spouse qualifying under the provisions of this Article, then payments shall be made to any surviving dependent child of such officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member and if there be more than one surviving dependent child, then said payment shall be made to and equally divided among all surviving dependent children; or

(3)������ If there be no spouse and no dependent child or children qualifying under the provisions of this Article, then payments shall be made to the surviving dependent parent of such officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member and if there be more than one surviving dependent parent then said payments shall be made to and equally divided between the surviving dependent parents of said officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member.

(b)������ Payment shall be made to the person or persons qualifying therefor under subsection (a) in the following amounts:

(1)������ At the time of the death of an officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member, twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) shall be paid to the person or persons entitled thereto.

(2)������ Thereafter, ten thousand dollars ($10,000) shall be paid annually to the person or persons entitled thereto until the sum of the initial payment and each annual payment reaches fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).

(3)������ In the event there is no person qualifying under subsection (a) of this section, fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) shall be paid to the estate of the deceased officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member at the time of death.

(c)������ In the event that any person or persons eligible for payments under subsection (a) of this section shall become ineligible, and other eligible person or persons qualify for said death benefit payments under subsection (a), then they shall receive the remainder of any payments up to the limit of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) in the manner set forth in subsection (b) of this section.

(d)������ In the event any person or persons eligible for payments under subsection (a) of this section shall become ineligible and no other person or persons qualify for payments under that subsection and where the sum of the initial payment of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) and each subsequent annual payment of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) does not total fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), then the difference between the total of the payments made and fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) shall immediately be payable to the estate of the deceased officer, fireman, rescue squad worker, or senior Civil Air Patrol member. (1959, c. 1323, s. 1; 1965, c. 937; 1971, c. 960; 1973, c. 634, s. 2; 1975, c. 284, s. 8; 2003‑284, s. 30.18A(a).)

 

§ 143‑166.4.� Funds; conclusiveness of award.

Such award of benefits as is provided for by this Article shall be paid from the Contingency and Emergency Fund and such amounts as may be required to pay benefits provided for by this Article are hereby appropriated from said fund for this special purpose.

The Industrial Commission shall have power to make necessary rules� and regulations for the administration of the provisions of this Article. It shall be vested with power to make all determinations necessary for the administration of this Article and all of its decisions and determinations shall be final and conclusive and not subject to review or reversal except by the Industrial Commission itself. The Industrial Commission shall keep a record of all proceedings conducted under this Article and shall have the right to subpoena any persons and records which it may deem necessary in making its determinations, and the Industrial Commission shall further have the power to require all persons called as witnesses to testify under oath or affirmation, and any member of the Industrial Commission may administer oaths. If any person shall refuse to comply with any subpoena issued hereunder or to testify with respect to any matter relevant to proceedings conducted under this Article, the Superior Court of Wake County, on application of the Industrial Commission, may issue an order requiring such person to comply with the subpoena and to testify; and any failure to obey any such order of the court may be punished by the court as for contempt. (1959, c. 1323, s. 1; 1965, c. 937.)

 

§ 143‑166.5.� Other benefits not affected.

None of the other benefits now provided for law‑enforcement officers, or other persons covered by this Article, or their dependents by the Workers' Compensation Act or other laws shall be affected by the provisions of this Article, and the benefits provided for herein shall not be diminished, abated or otherwise affected by such other provisions of law. (1959, c. 1323, s. 1; 1965, c. 937; 1979, c. 245; c. 714, s. 2.)

 

§ 143‑166.6.� Awards exempt from taxes.

Any award made under the provisions of this Article shall be exempt from taxation by the State or any political subdivision. The Industrial Commission shall not be responsible for any determination of the validity of any claims against said awards and shall distribute the death benefit awards directly to the dependent or dependents entitled thereto under the provisions of this Article. (1959, c. 1323, s. 1; 1965, c. 937.)

 

§ 143‑166.7.� Applicability of Article.

The provisions of this Article shall apply and be in full force and effect with respect to any law‑enforcement officer, fireman, rescue squad worker or senior Civil Air Patrol member killed in the line of duty on or after May 13, 1975. The provisions of this Article shall apply with respect to full‑time, permanent part‑time and temporary employees of North Carolina Division of Forest Resources, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, killed in line of duty on or after July 1, 1975. The provisions of this Article shall apply to county fire marshals and emergency services coordinators killed in the line of duty on and after July 1, 1988. (1965, c. 937; 1973, c. 634, s. 3; 1975, c. 284, s. 9; 1981, c. 944, s. 2; 1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 1050, s. 2; 1989, c. 727, s. 218(98); 1997‑443, s. 11A.119(a).)

 

§§ 143‑166.8 through 143‑166.12.� Reserved for future codification purposes.