reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
WV Code § 23-1-20 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 1. General Administrative Provisions|§23-1-20. Employment Preference for Employees in Workers' Compensation Litigation Unit

(a) The Legislature finds that, as claims against the Workers' Compensation Old Fund continue to decrease, persons currently employed on a permanent basis by the Attorney General in the workers' compensation litigation unit may soon face layoffs due to the decreasing workload. The Legislature hereby declares that such employees should have certain preferences if they seek continued employment with the state.(b) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, any person, not a temporary or probationary employee, employed by the Attorney General in the workers' compensation litigation unit who is laid off as a result of a decreased workload, shall be afforded the opportunity to transfer to other state employment if he or she is an employee in good standing at the time of the layoff.(c) The Attorney General shall establish and maintain, for a period of two years, a list of all employees who are eligible for employment due to a layoffs pursuant to this section, and who wish to remain eligible for employment with the state. The Attorney General shall give priority to any person on the list for employment in an available position equivalent to the position that person held in the workers' compensation litigation unit unless the Attorney General determines that the person is less qualified than other applicants for the position.(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, the Division of Personnel shall maintain, for a period of two years, a list of employees who were laid off as a result of the reduction in the work force occasioned by the decreasing work load of the workers' compensation litigation unit within the office of the Attorney General. Any such employee shall be given preference in hiring for any position in classified or exempt service for which he or she is qualified and applies. The Director of the Division of Personnel may propose for promulgation, in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, a legislative rule to effectuate the requirements of this section.
WV Code § 23-2-1a (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-1a. Employees Subject to Chapter

(a) Employees subject to this chapter are all persons in the service of employers, except those classified as an independent contractor pursuant to 21-5I-4 of this code, and employed by them for the purpose of carrying on the industry, business, service, or work in which they are engaged, including, but not limited to:(1) Persons regularly employed in the state whose duties necessitate employment of a temporary or transitory nature by the same employer without the state;(2) Every person in the service of the state or of any political subdivision or agency thereof, under any contract of hire, express or implied, and every appointed official or officer thereof while performing his or her official duties;(3) Checkweighmen employed according to law;(4) All members of rescue teams assisting in mine accidents with the consent of the owner who, in such case, shall be deemed the employer, or at the direction of the director of the department of mines;(5) All forest firefighters who, under the supervision of the Director of the Division of Natural Resources or his or her designated representative, assist in the prevention, confinement, and suppression of any forest fire; and(6) Students while participating in a work-based learning experience with an employer approved as a part of the curriculum by the county board. The county board shall be the employer of record of students while participating in unpaid work-based experiences off school premises with employers other than the county board. Students in unpaid work-based learning experiences shall be considered to be paid the amount of wages so as to provide the minimum workers compensation weekly benefits required by 23-4-6 of this code.(b) The right to receive compensation under this chapter shall not be affected by the fact that a minor is employed or is permitted to be employed in violation of the laws of this state relating to the employment of minors, or that he or she obtained his or her employment by misrepresenting his or her age.
WV Code § 23-2-1b (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-1b. Special Provisions as to Premiums

(a) Except as provided for in subsection (b) of this section, every executive officer of an association or of a corporation, any member of a partnership or owner of a sole proprietorship which has not elected to forgo coverage under this chapter for such officer, member or owner shall pay premiums based upon the actual salary paid to such employee up to an amount sufficient to qualify such employee to receive the maximum level of benefits, but in no event shall the basis for premium be less than the salary necessary to provide such employee with the minimum level of benefits.(b) Every executive officer of a not-for-profit association or of a not-for-profit corporation which has not elected to forgo coverage under this chapter for such officer, member or owner shall pay premiums based upon the actual salary paid to such employee up to an amount sufficient to qualify such employee to receive the maximum level of benefits, but in no event shall the basis for premium be less than $100.(c) Every elected official or officer, whether full time or part time and including members of the Legislature, whose governmental entity elects coverage under this chapter for such elected official or officer, shall pay or have paid for him or her premiums based upon the actual salary paid to such elected official or officer up to an amount sufficient to qualify such elected official or officer to receive the maximum level of benefits, but in no event shall the basis for premium be less than the salary necessary to provide such elected official or officer with the minimum level of benefits. For the purposes of this subsection, an elected official or officer shall include a person appointed to an elected position to complete a term for that elected position.(d) The premium and actual expenses in connection with governmental agencies and departments of the State of West Virginia shall be paid out of the State Treasury from appropriations made for such agencies and departments, in the same manner as other disbursements are made by such agencies and departments.(e) County commissions, municipalities, other political subdivisions of the state, county boards of education, emergency service organizations organized as aforesaid and volunteer fire departments or companies shall provide for the funds to pay their prescribed premiums into the fund and such premiums and premiums of state agencies and departments, including county boards of education, shall be paid into the fund in the same manner as herein provided for other employers subject to this chapter.(f) County commissions and municipalities are hereby authorized to pay all or any part of the premiums prescribed for such emergency service organizations organized as aforesaid and such duly incorporated volunteer fire departments or companies as may provide services within the county or municipality.
WV Code § 23-2-3 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-3. Report Forms and Other Forms for Use of Employers

The commission, and effective upon termination of the commission, the Insurance Commissioner, shall prepare and furnish report forms for the use of employers subject to this chapter. Every employer receiving from the commission any form or forms with direction for completion and returning to the commission shall return the form, within the period fixed by the commission, completed as to answer fully and correctly all pertinent questions in the form, and if unable to do so, shall give good and sufficient reasons for the failure. Every employer subject to the provisions of this chapter shall make application to the commission on the forms prescribed by the commission for that purpose; and any employer who terminates his or her business or for any other reason is no longer subject to this chapter shall immediately notify the commission on forms to be furnished by the commission for that purpose.
WV Code § 23-2-5c (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-5c. Statute of Limitations; Effective Date for New Payments; Previous Payments Due Not Affected

For payments due after the effective date of the amendment and reenactment of this section during the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, every action or process to collect any premium, premium deposit, interest or penalty due from an employer pursuant to this article by the executive director shall be brought or issued within five years next after the date on which the employer is required by the section imposing the premium, premium deposit, interest or penalty to file a report and pay the amount due thereunder. The limitation provided by this section shall also apply to enforcement of the lien, if any, securing the payment of the premium, premium deposit, interest or penalty, but shall not apply in the event of fraud or in the event the employer wholly fails to file the report required by the section imposing the premium, premium deposit, interest or penalty. For payments that were due prior to the effective date of this section, there continues to be no limitation on when actions or processes may be brought or issued. For every debt collectible under this section which first becomes due and owing after the effective date of the amendment and reenactment of this section during the year two thousand three, every action or process to collect the debt shall be brought or issued within ten years after the date on which the employer is required to file a report and pay the amount assessed or owed to the commission.
WV Code § 23-2-5d (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-5d. Uncollectible Receivables; Write-Offs

Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, the executive director, with the approval of the board of managers, may write-off any uncollected receivable due under the provisions of this article or article four of this chapter which the executive director and the board of managers determine uncollectible.
WV Code § 23-2-6 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-6. Exemption of Contributing Employers From Liability

Any employer subject to this chapter who subscribes and pays into the workers' compensation fund the premiums provided by this chapter or who elects to make direct payments of compensation as provided in this section is not liable to respond in damages at common law or by statute for the injury or death of any employee, however occurring, after so subscribing or electing, and during any period in which the employer is not in default in the payment of the premiums or direct payments and has complied fully with all other provisions of this chapter. Continuation in the service of the employer shall be considered a waiver by the employee and by the parents of any minor employee of the right of action as aforesaid, which the employee or his or her parents would otherwise have: Provided, That in case of employers not required by this chapter to subscribe and pay premiums into the workers' compensation fund, the injured employee has remained in the employer's service with notice that his or her employer has elected to pay into the workers' compensation fund the premiums provided by this chapter, or has elected to make direct payments as aforesaid.
WV Code § 23-2-6a (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-6a. Exemption From Liability of Officers, Managers, Agents, Representatives or Employees of Contributing Employers

The immunity from liability set out in the preceding section shall extend to every officer, manager, agent, representative or employee of such employer when he is acting in furtherance of the employer's business and does not inflict an injury with deliberate intention.
WV Code § 23-2-7 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-7. Benefits of Chapter May Not Be Waived by Contract or Regulation

No employer or employee shall exempt himself from the burden or waive the benefits of this chapter by any contract, agreement, rule or regulation, and any such contract, agreement, rule or regulation shall be pro tanto void.
WV Code § 23-2-8 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-8. Liability of Employer Electing Not to Pay or Defaulting in Payment of Premiums; Certain Common-Law Defenses Prohibited; Exceptions

All employers required by this chapter to subscribe to and pay premiums into the workers' compensation fund, except the State of West Virginia, the governmental agencies or departments created by it, and municipalities and political subdivisions of the state, and who do not subscribe to and pay premiums into the workers' compensation fund as required by this chapter and have not elected to pay individually and directly or from benefit funds compensation and expenses to injured employees or fatally injured employees' dependents under the provisions of section nine of this article, or having so subscribed or elected, shall be in default in the payment of same, or not having otherwise fully complied with the provisions of section five or section nine of this article, shall be liable to their employees (within the meaning of this article) for all damages suffered by reason of personal injuries sustained in the course of employment caused by the wrongful act, neglect or default of the employer or any of the employer's officers, agents or employees while acting within the scope of their employment and in the course of their employment and also to the personal representatives of such employees where death results from such personal injuries, and in any action by any such employee or personal representative thereof, such defendant shall not avail himself of the following common-law defenses: The defense of the fellow-servant rule; the defense of the assumption of risk; or the defense of contributory negligence; and further shall not avail himself of any defense that the negligence in question was that of someone whose duties are prescribed by statute: Provided, That such provision depriving a defendant employer of certain common-law defenses under the circumstances therein set forth shall not apply to an action brought against a county court, Board of Education, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state or against any employer not required to cover his employees under the provisions of this chapter.
WV Code § 23-2-9a (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-9a. Sanctions for Default by Self-Insured Employers; Rulemaking Authority

Whenever the authority of an employer to self-insure its obligations under this chapter is terminated and such employer is thereafter in default in the payment of any portion of surcharges or assessments required under this chapter or by rules promulgated thereunder, or in any payment required to be made as benefits provided by this chapter to the employer's injured employees or dependents of fatally injured employees, such employer shall be ineligible for government contracts to the same extent as an employer in "employer default," as provided for in section ten-a, article three, chapter five-a of this code, and shall also be subject to the license and permit revocation and termination sanctions to the same extent as employers in "employer default" pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (1), subsection (e), section nineteen, article two-c of this chapter. The Insurance Commissioner shall propose rules, as provided in section five, article two-c of this chapter, establishing administrative penalties for nonpayment of obligations under this chapter.
WV Code § 23-2-10 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-10. Application of Chapter to Interstate Commerce

(a) In case any employer within the meaning of this chapter is also engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, and for whom a rule of liability or method of compensation has been established by the Congress of the United States, this chapter applies to him or her only to the extent that his or her mutual connection with work in this state is clearly separable and distinguishable from his or her interstate work, and to the extent that the work in this state is clearly separable and distinguishable from his or her interstate work, the employer is subject to the terms and provisions of this chapter in like manner as all other employers under this chapter. Payments of premiums shall be on the basis of the payroll of those employees who perform work in this state only.(b) Unless and until the Congress of the United States has by appropriate legislation established a rule of liability or method of compensation governing employers and employees engaged in commerce within the purview of the commerce clause of the United States Constitution (article I, section 8), section one of this article applies without regard to the interstate or intrastate character or nature of the work or business engaged in.
WV Code § 23-2-11 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-11. Partial Invalidity of Chapter

If any employer is adjudicated to be outside the lawful scope of this chapter, the chapter shall not apply to him or her or his or her employee; or if any employee is adjudicated to be outside the lawful scope of this chapter, because of remoteness of his or her work from the hazard of his or her employer's work, the adjudication shall not impair the validity of this chapter in other respects and in every case an accounting in accordance with the justice of the case shall be had of moneys received. If the provisions of this chapter for the creation of the workers' compensation fund, or the provisions of this chapter making the compensation to the employee provided in it exclusive of any other remedy on the part of the employee, is held invalid, the entire chapter shall be invalidated and an accounting according to the justice of the case shall be had of money received. In other respects an adjudication of invalidity of any part of this chapter shall not affect the validity of the chapter as a whole or any part of this chapter.
WV Code § 23-2-12 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-12. Effect of Repeal or Invalidity of Chapter on Action for Damages

If the provisions of this chapter relating to compensation for injuries to, or death of, workers are repealed or adjudged invalid or unconstitutional, the period intervening between the occurrence of any injury or death and the repeal, or the final adjudication of invalidity or unconstitutionality, shall not be computed as a part of the time limited by law for the commencement of any action relating to the injuries or death, but the amount of any compensation which may have been paid on account of injury or death shall be deducted from any judgment for damages recovered on account of the injury or death.
WV Code § 23-2-13 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 23. Workers' Compensation|Article 2. Employers and Employees Subject to Chapter; Extraterritorial Coverage|§23-2-13. Interest on Past-Due Payments; Reinstatement Agreements

Effective July 1, 1999, payments unpaid on the date on which due and payable shall immediately begin bearing interest as specified in this section. The interest rate per annum for each fiscal year shall be calculated as the greater of the commission's current discount rate or the prime rate plus four percent, each rounded to the nearest whole percent. The discount rate shall be determined by the board of managers on an annual basis. The prime rate shall be the rate published in the Wall Street Journal on the last business day of the commission's prior fiscal year reflecting the base rate on corporate loans posted by at least seventy-five percent of the nation's thirty largest banks. This same rate of interest shall be applicable to all reinstatement agreements entered into by the commission pursuant to section five of this article on and after the effective date of this section: Provided, That if an employer enters into a subsequent reinstatement agreement within seven years of the date of the first agreement, the interest rate shall be eighteen percent per annum. Interest shall be compounded quarterly until payment plus accrued interest is received by the commission: Provided, however, That on and after the date of execution of a reinstatement agreement, for determining future interest on any past-due premium, premium deposit, and past compounded interest thereon, any reinstatement agreement entered into by the commission shall provide for a simple rate of interest, determined in accordance with the provisions of this section which is not subject to change during the life of the reinstatement agreement for the future interest. Interest collected pursuant to this section shall be paid into the workers' compensation fund: Provided further, That in no event shall the rate of interest charged a political subdivision of the state or a volunteer fire department pursuant to this section exceed ten percent per annum.