Pennsylvania SB 801: An Act amending the act of June 2, 1915 (P.L.736, No.338), known as the Workers' Compensation Act, providing for diseases with long latency periods between occupational exposure and manifestation of the disease and further providing for liability.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 870
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 801
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY LAUGHLIN, JUNE 3, 2025
REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, JUNE 3, 2025
AN ACT
Amending the act of June 2, 1915 (P.L.736, No.338), entitled "An
act defining the liability of an employer to pay damages for
injuries received by an employe in the course of employment;
establishing an elective schedule of compensation; providing
procedure for the determination of liability and compensation
thereunder; and prescribing penalties," in liability and
compensation, further providing for the definitions of
"injury," "personal injury" and "injury arising in the course
of his employment," providing for diseases with long latency
periods between occupational exposure and manifestation of
the disease and further providing for liability.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 301(c) of the act of June 2, 1915
(P.L.736, No.338), known as the Workers' Compensation Act, is
amended and the section is amended by adding a subsection to
read:
Section 301. * * *
(c) (1) The terms "injury" and "personal injury," as used
in this act, shall be construed to mean an injury to an employe,
regardless of his previous physical condition, except as
provided under [subsection (f)] subsections (f) and (h), arising
in the course of his employment and related thereto, and such
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disease or infection as naturally results from the injury or is
aggravated, reactivated or accelerated by the injury; and
wherever death is mentioned as a cause for compensation under
this act, it shall mean only death resulting from such injury
and its resultant effects, and occurring within three hundred
weeks after the injury. The limitation with respect to a disease
under this paragraph having to occur within three hundred weeks
of the last date of exposure shall not apply to claims filed
under subsection (h)(1). The term "injury arising in the course
of his employment," as used in this article, shall not include
an injury caused by an act of a third person intended to injure
the employe because of reasons personal to him, and not directed
against him as an employe or because of his employment; nor
shall it include injuries sustained while the employe is
operating a motor vehicle provided by the employer if the
employe is not otherwise in the course of employment at the time
of injury; but shall include all other injuries sustained while
the employe is actually engaged in the furtherance of the
business or affairs of the employer, whether upon the employer's
premises or elsewhere, and shall include all injuries caused by
the condition of the premises or by the operation of the
employer's business or affairs thereon, sustained by the
employe, who, though not so engaged, is injured upon the
premises occupied by or under the control of the employer, or
upon which the employer's business or affairs are being carried
on, the employe's presence thereon being required by the nature
of his employment.
(2) The terms "injury," "personal injury," and "injury
arising in the course of his employment," as used in this act,
shall include, unless the context clearly requires otherwise,
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occupational disease as defined in section 108 of this act:
Provided, That whenever occupational disease is the basis for
compensation, for disability or death under this act, it shall
apply only to disability or death resulting from such disease
and occurring within three hundred weeks after the last date of
employment in an occupation or industry to which he was exposed
to hazards of such disease: And provided further, That if the
employe's compensable disability has occurred within such
period, his subsequent death as a result of the disease shall
likewise be compensable. This limitation shall not apply to
claims filed under subsection (h)(1). The provisions of this
paragraph (2) shall apply only with respect to the disability or
death of an employe which results in whole or in part from the
employe's exposure to the hazard of occupational disease after
June 30, 1973 in employment covered by The Pennsylvania
Workmen's Compensation Act. The employer liable for compensation
provided by section 305.1 or section 108, subsections (k), (l),
(m), (o), (p), (q) or (r), shall be the employer in whose
employment the employe was last exposed for a period of not less
than one year to the hazard of the occupational disease claimed.
In the event the employe did not work in an exposure at least
one year for any employer during the three hundred week period
prior to disability or death, the employer liable for the
compensation shall be that employer giving the longest period of
employment in which the employe was exposed to the hazards of
the disease claimed.
* * *
(h) (1) Notwithstanding t