This bill amends the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act to improve the rights and benefits of employees injured on the job. Key provisions include requiring employers to cover interpreter services for employees with language barriers, ensuring these interpreters are selected from a designated register. The bill also modifies the employee's right to select a physician, allowing them to choose another if they cannot find a prior treating physician within a specified timeframe. Additionally, it mandates annual cost-of-living adjustments to benefits and allows for the payment of benefits to a personal representative.

Significant changes to compensation structures are also included, such as increasing total disability compensation from sixty-six and two-thirds percent to eighty percent of wages, and partial disability compensation from sixty-six and two-thirds percent to seventy-five percent. The duration for partial disability compensation is extended from three hundred weeks to five hundred weeks. The bill further adjusts compensation for the loss of body parts, increases benefits for children, and establishes a $25,000 allocation to the personal representative of a deceased employee's estate if no dependents are entitled to benefits. Overall, these amendments aim to provide more comprehensive support and fair compensation for injured workers and their families.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 48-120, 48-121, 48-121.01, 48-122, 48-122.01, 48-122.03, 48-126, 48-134, 48-134.01