2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 24 - Labor
Chapter 11 - Workers' Compensation Administration
§ 252. Right to compensation for personal injury or occupational disease

(a) Every employer shall pay compensation as hereinafter specified for the disability or death of an employee resulting from a personal injury or occupational disease arising out of and in the course of his employment, irrespective of fault as a cause of the injury or death. Compensation shall begin on the first full day of disability, except that compensation for medical attendance provided for at section 254(a) of this chapter shall begin at the time of injury. No compensation shall be paid if the injury or death is caused solely by the willful misconduct of the employee or by the willful intention of the employee to injure or kill himself or another or by the intoxication of the employee, in which case, the burden of proof shall be on the employer to show that the injury was so caused. Injuries resulting from travel to and from home immediately before or after working hours and injuries resulting from travel to and from an eating place during an authorized break period shall be considered as arising out of and in the course of employment, provided that such travel is by a reasonably direct route.

(b) Pleuro-pneumonic injuries of a tuberculous origin acquired during the course of employment and as a consequence thereof, by workers who come in contact with said disease in sanatoriums, government hospitals, or entities or private places where patients suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis are treated, shall be regarded as compensable, and shall be entitled to compensation; Provided, That every person shall, before his employment begins, or if already employed and undergone with negative results, submit to the examinations hereinafter described, and which shall be performed by the Department of Health: a general physical examination, a fluoroscopic and radiographic examination of the thorax, three examinations of concentrated sputa at intervals of one week, and any other examination which in the judgment of the Administrator may be necessary to make for the purpose of investigating the Koch bacillus; Provided, likewise, That the period for incubation of said disease shall no be less than ninety days; Provided, further, That persons thus employed in the above-mentioned institutions and places shall report for the examinations hereinbefore set forth at lease once each year; during the term of their employment; and they are likewise required to submit to said examinations when their employment in the occupations herein listed become terminated; Provided, finally, That if the examinations made to persons leaving the occupation herein referred to are negative, they shall have no right to compensation unless the disease develops within ninety day following the date of the termination of their employment in the aforesaid occupations.