2011 Oregon Revised Statutes
ORS Volume 14, Chapters 645 - 669
ORS Chapter 656
656.005 Definitions.

(1) Average weekly wage means the Oregon average weekly wage in covered employment, as determined by the Employment Department, for the last quarter of the calendar year preceding the fiscal year in which the injury occurred.

(2) Beneficiary means an injured worker, and the husband, wife, child or dependent of a worker, who is entitled to receive payments under this chapter. Beneficiary does not include:

(a) A spouse of an injured worker living in a state of abandonment for more than one year at the time of the injury or subsequently. A spouse who has lived separate and apart from the worker for a period of two years and who has not during that time received or attempted by process of law to collect funds for support or maintenance is considered living in a state of abandonment.

(b) A person who intentionally causes the compensable injury to or death of an injured worker.

(3) Board means the Workers Compensation Board.

(4) Carrier-insured employer means an employer who provides workers compensation coverage with the State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation or an insurer authorized under ORS chapter 731 to transact workers compensation insurance in this state.

(5) Child includes a posthumous child, a child legally adopted prior to the injury, a child toward whom the worker stands in loco parentis, a child born out of wedlock and a stepchild, if such stepchild was, at the time of the injury, a member of the worker s family and substantially dependent upon the worker for support. A dependent child who is an invalid is a child, for purposes of benefits, regardless of age, so long as the child was an invalid at the time of the accident and thereafter remains an invalid substantially dependent on the worker for support. For purposes of this chapter, a dependent child who is an invalid is considered to be a child under 18 years of age.

(6) Claim means a written request for compensation from a subject worker or someone on the worker s behalf, or any compensable injury of which a subject employer has notice or knowledge.

(7)(a) A compensable injury is an accidental injury, or accidental injury to prosthetic appliances, arising out of and in the course of employment requiring medical services or resulting in disability or death; an injury is accidental if the result is an accident, whether or not due to accidental means, if it is established by medical evidence supported by objective findings, subject to the following limitations:

(A) No injury or disease is compensable as a consequence of a compensable injury unless the compensable injury is the major contributing cause of the consequential condition.

(B) If an otherwise compensable injury combines at any time with a preexisting condition to cause or prolong disability or a need for treatment, the combined condition is compensable only if, so long as and to the extent that the otherwise compensable injury is the major contributing cause of the disability of the combined condition or the major contributing cause of the need for treatment of the combined condition.

(b) Compensable injury does not include:

(A) Injury to any active participant in assaults or combats which are not connected to the job assignment and which amount to a deviation from customary duties;

(B) Injury incurred while engaging in or performing, or as the result of engaging in or performing, any recreational or social activities primarily for the worker s personal pleasure; or

(C) Injury the major contributing cause of which is demonstrated to be by a preponderance of the evidence the injured worker s consumption of alcoholic beverages or the unlawful consumption of any controlled substance, unless the employer permitted, encouraged or had actual knowledge of such consumption.

(c) A disabling compensable injury is an injury which entitles the worker to compensation for disability or death. An injury is not disabling if no temporary benefits are due and payable, unless there is a reasonable expectation that permanent disability will result from the injury.

(d) A nondisabling compensable injury is any injury which requires medical services only.

(8) Compensation includes all benefits, including medical services, provided for a compensable injury to a subject worker or the worker s beneficiaries by an insurer or self-insured employer pursuant to this chapter.

(9) Department means the Department of Consumer and Business Services.

(10) Dependent means any of the following-named relatives of a worker whose death results from any injury: Father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, grandson, granddaughter, brother, sister, half sister, half brother, niece or nephew, who at the time of the accident, are dependent in whole or in part for their support upon the earnings of the worker. Unless otherwise provided by treaty, aliens not residing within the United States at the time of the accident other than father, mother, husband, wife or children are not included within the term dependent.

(11) Director means the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services.

(12)(a) Doctor or physician means a person duly licensed to practice one or more of the healing arts in any country or in any state, territory or possession of the United States within the limits of the license of the licentiate.

(b) Except as otherwise provided for workers subject to a managed care contract, attending physician means a doctor, physician or physician assistant who is primarily responsible for the treatment of a worker s compensable injury and who is:

(A) A medical doctor or doctor of osteopathy licensed under ORS 677.100 to 677.228 by the Oregon Medical Board, or a podiatric physician and surgeon licensed under ORS 677.805 to 677.840 by the Oregon Medical Board, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon licensed by the Oregon Board of Dentistry or a similarly licensed doctor in any country or in any state, territory or possession of the United States; or

(B) For a cumulative total of 60 days from the first visit on the initial claim or for a cumulative total of 18 visits, whichever occurs first, to any of the medical service providers listed in this subparagraph, a:

(i) Doctor or physician licensed by the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners for the State of Oregon under ORS chapter 684 or a similarly licensed doctor or physician in any country or in any state, territory or possession of the United States;

(ii) Physician assistant licensed by the Oregon Medical Board in accordance with ORS 677.505 to 677.525 or a similarly licensed physician assistant in any country or in any state, territory or possession of the United States; or

(iii) Doctor of naturopathy or naturopathic physician licensed by the Oregon Board of Naturopathic Medicine under ORS chapter 685 or a similarly licensed doctor or physician in any country or in any state, territory or possession of the United States.

(c) Except as otherwise provided for workers subject to a managed care contract, attending physician does not include a physician who provides care in a hospital emergency room and refers the injured worker to a primary care physician for follow-up care and treatment.

(d) Consulting physician means a doctor or physician who examines a worker or the worker s medical record to advise the attending physician or nurse practitioner authorized to provide compensable medical services under ORS 656.245 regarding treatment of a worker s compensable injury.

(13)(a) Employer means any person, including receiver, administrator, executor or trustee, and the state, state agencies, counties, municipal corporations, school districts and other public corporations or political subdivisions, who contracts to pay a remuneration for and secures the right to direct and control the services of any person.

(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, for purposes of this chapter, the client of a temporary service provider is not the employer of temporary workers provided by the temporary service provider.

(c) As used in paragraph (b) of this subsection, temporary service provider has the meaning for that term provided in ORS 656.850.

(14) Insurer means the State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation or an insurer authorized under ORS chapter 731 to transact workers compensation insurance in this state or an assigned claims agent selected by the director under ORS 656.054.

(15) Consumer and Business Services Fund means the fund created by ORS 705.145.

(16) Invalid means one who is physically or mentally incapacitated from earning a livelihood.

(17) Medically stationary means that no further material improvement would reasonably be expected from medical treatment, or the passage of time.

(18) Noncomplying employer means a subject employer who has failed to comply with ORS 656.017.

(19) Objective findings in support of medical evidence are verifiable indications of injury or disease that may include, but are not limited to, range of motion, atrophy, muscle strength and palpable muscle spasm. Objective findings does not include physical findings or subjective responses to physical examinations that are not reproducible, measurable or observable.

(20) Palliative care means medical service rendered to reduce or moderate temporarily the intensity of an otherwise stable medical condition, but does not include those medical services rendered to diagnose, heal or permanently alleviate or eliminate a medical condition.

(21) Party means a claimant for compensation, the employer of the injured worker at the time of injury and the insurer, if any, of such employer.

(22) Payroll means a record of wages payable to workers for their services and includes commissions, value of exchange labor and the reasonable value of board, rent, housing, lodging or similar advantage received from the employer. However, payroll does not include overtime pay, vacation pay, bonus pay, tips, amounts payable under profit-sharing agreements or bonus payments to reward workers for safe working practices. Bonus pay is limited to payments which are not anticipated under the contract of employment and which are paid at the sole discretion of the employer. The exclusion from payroll of bonus payments to reward workers for safe working practices is only for the purpose of calculations based on payroll to determine premium for workers compensation insurance, and does not affect any other calculation or determination based on payroll for the purposes of this chapter.

(23) Person includes partnership, joint venture, association, limited liability company and corporation.

(24)(a) Preexisting condition means, for all industrial injury claims, any injury, disease, congenital abnormality, personality disorder or similar condition that contributes to disability or need for treatment, provided that:

(A) Except for claims in which a preexisting condition is arthritis or an arthritic condition, the worker has been diagnosed with such condition, or has obtained medical services for the symptoms of the condition regardless of diagnosis; and

(B)(i) In claims for an initial injury or omitted condition, the diagnosis or treatment precedes the initial injury;

(ii) In claims for a new medical condition, the diagnosis or treatment precedes the onset of the new medical condition; or

(iii) In claims for a worsening pursuant to ORS 656.273 or 656.278, the diagnosis or treatment precedes the onset of the worsened condition.

(b) Preexisting condition means, for all occupational disease claims, any injury, disease, congenital abnormality, personality disorder or similar condition that contributes to disability or need for treatment and that precedes the onset of the claimed occupational disease, or precedes a claim for worsening in such claims pursuant to ORS 656.273 or 656.278.

(c) For the purposes of industrial injury claims, a condition does not contribute to disability or need for treatment if the condition merely renders the worker more susceptible to the injury.

(25) Self-insured employer means an employer or group of employers certified under ORS 656.430 as meeting the qualifications set out by ORS 656.407.

(26) State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation and corporation mean the State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation created under ORS 656.752.

(27) Subject employer means an employer who is subject to this chapter as provided by ORS 656.023.

(28) Subject worker means a worker who is subject to this chapter as provided by ORS 656.027.

(29) Wages means the money rate at which the service rendered is recompensed under the contract of hiring in force at the time of the accident, including reasonable value of board, rent, housing, lodging or similar advantage received from the employer, and includes the amount of tips required to be reported by the employer pursuant to section 6053 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, and the regulations promulgated pursuant thereto, or the amount of actual tips reported, whichever amount is greater. The State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation may establish assumed minimum and maximum wages, in conformity with recognized insurance principles, at which any worker shall be carried upon the payroll of the employer for the purpose of determining the premium of the employer.

(30) Worker means any person, including a minor whether lawfully or unlawfully employed, who engages to furnish services for a remuneration, subject to the direction and control of an employer and includes salaried, elected and appointed officials of the state, state agencies, counties, cities, school districts and other public corporations, but does not include any person whose services are performed as an inmate or ward of a state institution or as part of the eligibility requirements for a general or public assistance grant. For the purpose of determining entitlement to temporary disability benefits or permanent total disability benefits under this chapter, worker does not include a person who has withdrawn from the workforce during the period for which such benefits are sought.

(31) Independent contractor has the meaning for that term provided in ORS 670.600. [1975 c.556 2 to 19 (enacted in lieu of 656.002); 1977 c.109 2; 1977 c.804 1; 1979 c.839 26; 1981 c.535 30; 1981 c.723 3; 1981 c.854 2; 1983 c.740 242; 1985 c.212 1; 1985 c.507 1; 1985 c.770 1; 1987 c.373 31; 1987 c.457 1; 1987 c.713 3; 1987 c.884 25; 1989 c.762 3; 1990 c.2 3; 1993 c.739 23; 1993 c.744 18; 1995 c.93 31; 1995 c.332 1; 1997 c.491 5; 2001 c.865 1; 2003 c.811 1,2; 2007 c.241 6,7; 2007 c.252 1,2; 2007 c.365 1; 2007 c.505 1,2; 2009 c.43 6,7; 2011 c.117 1]