SB 456

This bill makes various changes to the worker's compensation law, as

administered by the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) and the Division

of Hearings and Appeal in the Department of Administration (DHA).

General coverage

Employers subject to worker's compensation law

Under current law, every person who

usually

employs three or more employees

for services performed in this state is subject to the worker's compensation law. This

bill provides that every person who

at any time

employs three or more employees for

services performed in this state is subject to the worker's compensation law and

specifies that a person becomes subject to that law on the day on which the person

employs three or more employees for services performed in this state.

Employee misrepresentation of physical condition

Under current law, an employee who is injured while performing services

growing out of and incidental to his or her employment may recover worker's

compensation for the injury.

This bill bars recovery of worker's compensation by an injured employee if: 1)

the employee knowingly and willfully made a false representation as to his or her

physical condition in an employment application; 2) the employer relied on the false

representation and that reliance was a substantial factor in the employer's decision

to hire the employee; and 3) there was a causal connection between the false

representation and the injury.

Worker's compensation denied by another state

Under current law, an employee who, while working outside the territorial

limits of this state, suffers an injury on account of which the employee would have

been entitled to worker's compensation under the laws of this state had the injury

occurred in this state is entitled to worker's compensation under the laws of this state

if: 1) the employee's employment is principally localized in this state; 2) the employee

is working under a contract of hire made in this state in employment that is not

principally localized in any state; 3) the employee is working under a contract made

in this state in employment principally localized in another state whose worker's

compensation law is not applicable to the employee's employer; 4) the employee is

working under a contract of hire made in this state in employment outside the United

States; or 5) the employee is a Wisconsin law enforcement officer acting under a

mutual aid agreement with a law enforcement agency of an adjacent state.

This bill provides that if an employee who suffers an injury outside the

territorial limits of this state files a claim for compensation under the laws of another