Existing law provides for the payment of compensation under industrial insurance if, during the course of employment, an employee is injured or killed by a workplace accident or occupational disease. (Chapters 616A-617 of NRS) Existing law defines the term “compensation” to mean the money which is payable to an employee or to the dependents of the employee as provided in existing law governing industrial insurance, including benefits for funerals, accident benefits or medical benefits and money for rehabilitative services. (NRS 616A.090, 617.050) If the injury of an injured employee was caused under circumstances creating legal liability in a person other than the employer or a person in the same employ, existing law authorizes an injured employee or the dependents of the employee, under certain circumstances, to take proceedings to recover damages from that third party. Existing law also authorizes the industrial insurer or Administrator of the Division of Industrial Relations of the Department of Business and Industry, under certain circumstances, to recover damages from that third party. Additionally, under existing law, the industrial insurer or Administrator has a lien against the total proceeds of any recovery by the injured employee or the dependents of the employee. Existing law requires the amount of compensation to which the injured employee or the dependents of the employee are entitled, including any future compensation, to be reduced by the amount of damages or proceeds recovered. (NRS 616C.215) This bill provides that the maximum amount that the industrial insurer or Administrator may recover for such a lien must be the lesser of: (1) the amount of the lien, minus an amount equal to one-half of the reasonable costs incurred by the injured employee or the dependents of the employee in procuring the recovery; or (2) one-third of the total amount of any recovery, inclusive of any attorney's fees or costs and the monetary value of any other property which is recovered, minus an amount equal to one-half of the reasonable costs incurred by the injured employee or the dependents of the employee in procuring the recovery. This bill requires an itemized memorandum of any such reasonable costs incurred by the injured employee or the dependents of the employee in procuring the recovery to be verified by the injured employee, the dependents of the employee or the attorney or representative of the injured employee or the dependents of the employee, provided to the industrial insurer or Administrator and subject to judicial review under certain circumstances. This bill also limits any offset to the amount of future compensation received by the injured employee or dependents of the employee to: (1) an offset against payments of compensation that are not accident benefits; and (2) a reduction in each such payment which does not exceed one-third of the amount of the payment until the total amount of all such reductions equals the net amount recovered by the injured employee or dependents of the employee.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 616C.215
Reprint 1: 616C.215
Reprint 2: 616C.215
As Enrolled: 616C.215
BDR: 616C.215