Changes in case law
In The National Law Review article, “Changes to Ohio’s Workers’ Compensation Statutes Expected to Benefit Employers”, Melissa Black, the author writes about new policy changes that affect VSSR workers’ compensation claims. A VSSR claim is a claim that arises due to an employer’s violation of specific safety requirements. This type of claim penalizes the employer for not adhering to strict safety requirements. House Bill 81 was signed into law on June 16, 2020. One of the biggest impacts of this new bill is it changes the statute of limitations for filing a VSSR claim from two years to one. Meaning that a worker injured in a VSSR incident only has one year to report their claim to the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. This new change to the legislation benefits employers much more than it does workers. The obvious effect this change will have is that less VSSR claims will be filed. Employers hope that this will encourage injured workers to report their job related injuries as soon as possible. House Bill 81 will take effect on September 14, 2020, 90 days after it was signed into law.