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Workers' Compensation, H. Michael Bagley, Daniel C. Kniffen, Katherine D. Dixon

Mercer Law Review

The Chairman's Advisory Council of the State Board of Workers' Compensation again submitted significant legislation for 2005. Perhaps the most significant amendment to the Workers' Compensation Act concerns the determination of catastrophic designation. If an injury has not already been accepted as a catastrophic injury by the employer, and the authorized treating physician has released the employee to return to work with restrictions, there will be a rebuttable presumption, during a period not to exceed 130 weeks from the date of injury, that the injury is not a catastrophic injury. In making a determination as to whether an injury is …