Report Title:
Workers' Compensation Law; Vocational Rehabilitation
Description:
Allows the director to refer employees who have been deemed unable to return to work in their regular jobs as a result of work injury to receive vocational rehabilitation services. (SB2643 HD1)
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
2643 |
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TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
H.D. 1 |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to vocational rehabilitation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Section 386-25, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b) The director may refer [employees] an employee who may have or [have] has suffered permanent disability as a result of work injuries or who has otherwise been deemed unable to return to the employee's regular job after the injury has stabilized, and who has not received an offer of suitable work that would restore the earnings capacity as nearly as possible to that level at which it was at the time of injury, and who, in the director's opinion, can be vocationally rehabilitated, to the department of human services or to private providers of rehabilitation services for vocational rehabilitation services that are feasible. A referral shall be made upon recommendation of the rehabilitation unit established under section 386-71.5 [and] after the employee has been deemed physically able to participate in rehabilitation by the employee's attending physician. The unit shall include appropriate professional staff and shall have the following duties and responsibilities:
(1) To review and approve rehabilitation plans developed by certified providers of rehabilitation services, whether they be private or public;
(2) To adopt rules consistent with this section that shall expedite and facilitate the identification, notification, and referral of industrially injured employees to rehabilitation services, and establish minimum standards for providers providing rehabilitation services under this section;
(3) To certify private and public providers of rehabilitation services meeting the minimum standards established under paragraph (2); and
(4) To enforce the implementation of rehabilitation plans."
SECTION 2. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on June 30, 2099.