NRS616B.587. Payment of cost of additional compensation resulting from subsequent injury of employee of employer insured by private carrier.

  Except as otherwise provided in NRS 616B.590:

      1.  If an employee of an employer who is insured by a private carrier has a permanent physical impairment from any cause or origin and incurs a subsequent disability by injury arising out of and in the course of his or her employment which entitles the employee to compensation for disability that is substantially greater by reason of the combined effects of the preexisting impairment and the subsequent injury than that which would have resulted from the subsequent injury alone, the compensation due must be charged to the Subsequent Injury Account for Private Carriers in accordance with regulations adopted by the Administrator.

      2.  If the subsequent injury of such an employee results in his or her death and it is determined that the death would not have occurred except for the preexisting permanent physical impairment, the compensation due must be charged to the Subsequent Injury Account for Private Carriers in accordance with regulations adopted by the Administrator.

      3.  As used in this section, “permanent physical impairment” means any permanent condition, whether congenital or caused by injury or disease, of such seriousness as to constitute a hindrance or obstacle to obtaining employment or to obtaining reemployment if the employee is unemployed. For the purposes of this section, a condition is not a “permanent physical impairment” unless it would support a rating of permanent impairment of 6 percent or more of the whole person if evaluated according to the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment as adopted and supplemented by the Division pursuant to NRS 616C.110.

      4.  To qualify under this section for reimbursement from the Subsequent Injury Account for Private Carriers, the private carrier must establish by written records that the employer had knowledge of the “permanent physical impairment” at the time the employee was hired or that the employee was retained in employment after the employer acquired such knowledge.

      5.  A private carrier must submit to the Administrator a claim for reimbursement from the Subsequent Injury Account for Private Carriers.

      6.  The Administrator shall adopt regulations establishing procedures for submitting claims against the Subsequent Injury Account for Private Carriers. The Administrator shall notify the private carrier of his or her decision on such a claim within 120 days after the claim is received.

      7.  An appeal of any decision made concerning a claim against the Subsequent Injury Account for Private Carriers must be submitted directly to the appeals officer. The appeals officer shall hear such an appeal within 45 days after the appeal is submitted to the appeals officer.

      (Added to NRS by 1995, 2124; A 1997, 593, 596; 2001, 2763; 2007, 394)