Definitions Under WC

140.6.1 - Definitions Under WC (Rev. 30, 09-05-03) • A WC law or plan is a government supervised and employer supported system for compensating employees for injury or disease suffered in connection with their employment, regardless of whether the injury was the fault of the employer. The WC does not usually cover agricultural employees, interstate railroad employees, employees of small businesses, employees whose work is not in the course of the employer's business (e.g., domestic employees), casual employees, and self- employed people. All states provide compensation for at least some occupational diseases. The definition also applies to the WC plans of the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It also applies to the Federal WC plans provided under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, the U.S. Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act and its extensions, and the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 as amended (the Federal Black Lung Program). These Federal programs provide WC protection for Federal civil service employees and certain other categories of employees not covered, or not adequately covered, under State WC programs (e.g., coal miners totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis; maritime workers, with the exception of seamen; employees of companies performing overseas contracts with the United States government; employees of American companies who are injured in an armed conflict; employees paid from nonappropriated Federal funds, such as employees of post exchanges; and offshore oil field workers). The Federal Employers' Liability Act, which covers merchant seamen and employees of interstate railroads, is not a WC law or plan for purposes of this provision. Similarly, some states have employers' liability acts. These also are not considered WC acts for purposes of this provision. • Workers' Compensation Agency means any governmental entity that administers a Federal or state WC law. This term includes WC commissions, industrial commissions, industrial boards, WC insurance funds, WC courts and, in the case of Federal workers' compensation programs, the U.S. Department of Labor. 19 • Workers' Compensation Carrier means any insurance carrier authorized to write WC insurance under the State or Federal law, the State Compensation Fund in which the state administers the WC program, and the beneficiary's employer in which the employer is self-insured. • Lump Sum Compromise Settlement is a settlement that provides less in total compensation than the individual would have received if the claim had not been compromised. This may occur when compensability is contested.