GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION LAW 2001-204
AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT PICKUP FIREFIGHTERS OF THE DIVISION OF FOREST RESOURCES, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES, ARE ELIGIBLE FOR COMPENSATION UNDER THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. G.S. 97-2(2) reads as rewritten:
"(2) Employee. - The term
'employee' means every person engaged in an employment under any appointment or
contract of hire or apprenticeship, express or implied, oral or written,
including aliens, and also minors, whether lawfully or unlawfully employed, but
excluding persons whose employment is both casual and not in the course of the
trade, business, professionprofession, or occupation of his
employer, and as relating to those so employed by the State, the term
'employee' shall include all officers and employees of the State, including
such as are elected by the people, or by the General Assembly, or appointed by
the Governor to serve on a per diem, part-time or fee basis, either with or
without the confirmation of the Senate; as relating to municipal corporations
and political subdivisions of the State, the term 'employee' shall include all
officers and employees thereof, including such as are elected by the people.
The term 'employee' shall include members of the North Carolina national guard
while on State active duty under orders of the Governor and members of the
North Carolina State Defense Militia while on State active duty under orders of
the Governor. The term 'employee' shall include deputy sheriffs and all persons
acting in the capacity of deputy sheriffs, whether appointed by the sheriff or
by the governing body of the county and whether serving on a fee basis or on a
salary basis, or whether deputy sheriffs serving upon a full-time basis or a
part-time basis, and including deputy sheriffs appointed to serve in an
emergency, but as to those so appointed, only during the continuation of the
emergency. The sheriff shall furnish to the board of county commissioners a
complete list of all deputy sheriffs named or appointed by him immediately
after their appointment,appointment and notify the board of
commissioners of any changes made therein promptly after such changes are made.
Any reference to an employee who has been injured shall, when the employee is
dead, include also his legal representative, dependents, and other persons to
whom compensation may be payable: Provided, further, that any employeeemployee,
as herein defineddefined, of a municipality, county, or of the
State of North CarolinaCarolina, while engaged in the discharge
of his official duty outside the jurisdictional or territorial limits of the
municipality, county, or the State of North Carolina and while acting pursuant
to authorization or instruction from any superior officer, shall have the same
rights under this Article as if such duty or activity were performed within the
territorial boundary limits of his employer.
Every executive officer elected or appointed and empowered in accordance with the charter and bylaws of a corporation shall be considered as an employee of such corporation under this Article.
Any such executive officer of a
corporation may, notwithstanding any other provision of this Article, be exempt
from the coverage of the corporation's insurance contract by such corporationcorporation's
specifically excluding such executive officer in such contract of insuranceinsurance,
and the exclusion to remove such executive officer from the coverage shall
continue for the period such contract of insurance is in effect, and during
such period such executive officers thus exempted from the coverage of the
insurance contract shall not be employees of such corporation under this
Article.
All county agricultural extension
service employees who do not receive official federal appointments as employees
of the United States Department of Agriculture and who are field faculty
members with professional rank as designated in the memorandum of understanding
between the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service, North Carolina State
University, A & T State UniversityUniversity, and the boards
of county commissioners shall be deemed to be employees of the State of North
Carolina. All other county agricultural extension service employees paid from
State or county funds shall be deemed to be employees of the county board of
commissioners in the county in which the employee is employed for purposes of
workers' compensation.
The term employee'employee'
shall also include members of the Civil Air Patrol currently certified pursuant
to G.S. 143B-491(a) when performing duties in the course and scope of a State
approvedState-approved mission pursuant to Article 11 of Chapter 143B.143B
of the General Statutes.
Employee'Employee'
shall not include any person performing voluntary service as a ski patrolman
who receives no compensation for such services other than meals or lodging or
the use of ski tow or ski lift facilities or any combination thereof.
Any sole proprietor or partner of a business or any member of a limited liability company may elect to be included as an employee under the workers' compensation coverage of such business if he is actively engaged in the operation of the business and if the insurer is notified of his election to be so included. Any such sole proprietor or partner or member of a limited liability company shall, upon such election, be entitled to employee benefits and be subject to employee responsibilities prescribed in this Article.
'Employee' shall include an authorized pickup firefighter of the Division of Forest Resources of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources when that individual is engaged in emergency fire suppression activities for the Division of Forest Resources. As used in this section, 'authorized pickup firefighter' means an individual who has completed required fire suppression training as a wildland firefighter and who is available as needed by the Division of Forest Resources for emergency fire suppression activities, including immediate dispatch to wildfires and standby for initial attack on fires during periods of high fire danger."
SECTION 1.1. G.S. 97-2(3) reads as rewritten:
"(3) Employer. - The term
'employer' means the State and all political subdivisions thereof, all public
and quasi-public corporations therein, every person carrying on any employmentemployment,
and the legal representative of a deceased person or the receiver or trustee of
any person. The board of commissioners of each county of the State, for the
purposes of this law, shall be considered as 'employer' of all deputy sheriffs
serving within such county, or persons serving or performing the duties of a
deputy sheriff, whether such persons are appointed by the sheriff or by the
board of commissioners and whether serving on a fee basis or salary basis. Each
county is authorized to insure its compensation liability for deputy sheriffs
to the same extent it is authorized to insure other compensation liability for
employees thereof. For purposes of this Chapter, when an authorized pickup
firefighter of the Division of Forest Resources of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources is engaged in emergency fire suppression
activities for the Division of Forest Resources, that individual's employer is
the Division of Forest Resources."
SECTION 2. G.S. 97-2(5) reads as rewritten:
"(5) Average Weekly Wages. -
'Average weekly wages' shall mean the earnings of the injured employee in the
employment in which he was working at the time of the injury during the period
of 52 weeks immediately preceding the date of the injury, including the
subsistence allowance paid to veteran trainees by the United States government,
provided the amount of said allowance shall be reported monthly by said trainee
to his employer, divided by 52; but if the injured employee lost more than
seven consecutive calendar days at one or more times during such period,
although not in the same week, then the earnings for the remainder of such 52
weeks shall be divided by the number of weeks remaining after the time so lost
has been deducted. Where the employment prior to the injury extended over a
period of lessfewer than 52 weeks, the method of dividing the
earnings during that period by the number of weeks and parts thereof during
which the employee earned wages shall be followed; provided, results fair and
just to both parties will be thereby obtained. Where, by reason of a shortness
of time during which the employee has been in the employment of his employer or
the casual nature or terms of his employment, it is impractical to compute the
average weekly wages as above defined, regard shall be had to the average
weekly amount which during the 52 weeks previous to the injury was being earned
by a person of the same grade and character employed in the same class of
employment in the same locality or community.
But where for exceptional reasons the foregoing would be unfair, either to the employer or employee, such other method of computing average weekly wages may be resorted to as will most nearly approximate the amount which the injured employee would be earning were it not for the injury.
Wherever allowances of any character
made to an employee in lieu of wages are specified part of the wage contractcontract,
they shall be deemed a part of his earnings.
Where a minor employee, under the
age of 18 years, sustains a permanent disability or dies leaving dependents
surviving, the compensation payable for permanent disability or death shall be
calculated, first, upon the average weekly wage paid to adult employees
employed by the same employer at the time of the accident in a similar or like
class of work which the injured minor employee would probably have been
promoted to if not injured, or, second, upon a wage sufficient to yield the
maximum weekly compensation benefit. Compensation for temporary total
disability or for the death of a minor without dependents shall be computed
upon the average weekly wage at the time of the accident, unless the total
disability extends more than 52 weeksweeks, and then the
compensation may be increased in proportion to his expected earnings.
In case of disabling injury or death
to a volunteer fireman orfireman; member of an organized rescue squad
orsquad; an authorized pickup firefighter, as defined in subdivision (2)
of this section, when that individual is engaged in emergency fire suppression
activities for the Division of Forest Resources; a duly appointed and sworn
member of an auxiliary police department organized pursuant to G.S. 160A-282G.S.
160A-282; or senior members of the State Civil Air Patrol functioning under
Article 11, Chapter 143B,11 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes,
under compensable circumstances, compensation payable shall be calculated upon
the average weekly wage the volunteer fireman orfireman, member
of an organized rescue squad orsquad, authorized pickup firefighter
of the Division of Forest Resources, when that individual is engaged in
emergency fire suppression activities for the Division of Forest Resources,
member of an auxiliary police department department, or senior
member of the State Civil Air Patrol was earning in the employment wherein he
principally earned his livelihood as of the date of injury. Provided, however,
that the minimum compensation payable to a volunteer fireman, member of an
organized rescue squad orsquad, an authorized pickup firefighter of
the Division of Forest Resources of the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources, when that individual is engaged in emergency fire suppression
activities for the Division of Forest Resources, a sworn member of an
auxiliary police department organized pursuant to G.S. 160A-282, or senior
members of the State Civil Air Patrol shall be sixty-six and two thirdstwo-thirds
percent (66 2/3%) of the maximum weekly benefit established in G.S. 97-29."
SECTION 3. This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to claims filed on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 5th day of June, 2001.
s/ Beverly E. Perdue
President of the Senate
s/ James B. Black
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ Michael F. Easley
Governor
Approved 1:51 p.m. this 15th day of June, 2001