Section 647100. For the purposes of this chapter: (1) ‘Office’ means the office of injured employee counsel. (2) ‘Public counsel’ means the injured employee public counsel. Section 647110. (A) The office of injured employee counsel is established to represent the interests of workers’ compensation claimants in this state. (B) The office is administratively attached to the department but is independent of direction by the commissioner, the commissioner of insurance, and the department. (C) The department shall provide the staff and facilities necessary to enable the office to perform the duties of the office under this title, including: (1) administrative assistance and services to the office, including budget planning and purchasing; (2) personnel services; and (3) computer equipment and support. (D) The public counsel may enter into interagency contracts and other agreements with the commissioner of workers’ compensation and the commissioner of insurance as necessary to implement this chapter. Section 647120. Unless continued in existence as provided by another provision of law, the office of injured employee counsel is abolished and this chapter expires September 1, 2021. Section 647130. (A) The office shall prepare information of public interest describing the functions of the office. (B) The office shall make the information available to the public and appropriate state agencies. Section 647140. (A) The office shall prepare and maintain a written plan that describes how a person who does not speak English can be provided reasonable access to the office’s programs. (B) The office shall comply with federal and state laws for program and facility accessibility. Section 647150. (A) The public counsel shall adopt rules as necessary to implement this chapter. (B) Rulemaking under this section is subject to Article 1, Chapter 23 of Title 1.
(C) If a party fails to request that a benefit review conference be rescheduled in the time required by commissioner rule or fails to attend a benefit review conference without good cause as defined by commissioner rule, the party forfeits the party’s entitlement to attend a benefit review conference on the issue in dispute, unless a benefit review officer is authorized to schedule an additional benefit review conference under Section 6421225(B). (D) The commissioner shall adopt rules necessary to implement and enforce this section, including rules that: (1) define good cause; and (2) establish deadlines for requesting that a benefit review conference be rescheduled under subsection (B). Section 6421240. (A) A dispute may be resolved either in whole or in part at a benefit review conference. (B) If the conference results in the resolution of some disputed issues by agreement or in a settlement, the benefit review officer shall reduce the agreement or the settlement to writing. The benefit review officer and each party or the designated representative of the party shall sign the agreement or settlement. (C) A settlement takes effect on the date it is approved by the director in accordance with Section 6417150. Section 6421245. (A) An agreement signed in accordance with Section 6421240 is binding on the insurance carrier through the conclusion of all matters relating to the claim, unless the division or a court, on a finding of fraud, newly discovered evidence, or other good and sufficient cause, relieves the insurance carrier of the effect of the agreement. (B) The agreement is binding on the claimant, if represented by an attorney, to the same extent as on the insurance carrier. If the claimant is not represented by an attorney, the agreement is binding on the claimant through the conclusion of all matters relating to the claim while the claim is pending before the division, unless the commissioner for good cause relieves the claimant of the effect of the agreement. Section 6421250. (A) If a dispute is not entirely resolved at a benefit review conference, the benefit review officer shall prepare a written report that details each issue that is not resolved at the conference. (B) The report must also include: (1) a statement of each resolved issue;
appeals panel shall file a copy of the decision with the commissioner. (B) An appeals panel may only issue a written decision in a case in which the panel affirms the decision of a hearings officer if the case: (1) is a case of first impression; (2) involves a recent change in law; or (3) involves errors at the contested case hearing that require correction but do not affect the outcome of the hearing, including: (a) findings of fact for which insufficient evidence exists; (b) incorrect conclusions of law; (c) findings of fact or conclusions of law regarding matters that were not properly before the hearings officer; and (d) legal errors not otherwise described by this subdivision. (C) A copy of the decision of the appeals panel shall be sent to each party not later than the seventh day after the date the decision is filed with the division. (D) If the appeals panel does not issue a decision in accordance with this section, the decision of the hearing officer becomes final and is the final decision of the appeals panel. (E) Each final decision of the appeals panel shall conclude with a separate paragraph stating: ‘The true corporate name of the insurance carrier is (NAME IN BOLD PRINT) and the name and address of its registered agent for service of process is (NAME AND ADDRESS IN BOLD PRINT).’ Section 6421540. (A) A decision of the appeals panel regarding benefits is final in the absence of a timely appeal for judicial review. (B) The decision of the appeals panel regarding benefits is binding during the pendency of an appeal under Article 6 or 7 of chapter. Section 6421550. The division may revise a decision in a contested case hearing on a finding of clerical error. Section 6421560. During judicial review of the appeals panel decision on any disputed issue relating to a workers’ compensation claim, the division retains jurisdiction of all other issues related to the claim.
(G) Appointments to the board shall be made without regard to the race, color, disability, sex, religion, age, or national origin of the appointee. (H) The board shall develop and implement policies that clearly separate the policymaking responsibilities of the board and the management responsibilities of the director and the staff of the risk management office. Section 6425310. (A) A person who is appointed to and qualifies for office as a member of the board may not vote, deliberate, or be counted as a member in attendance at a meeting of the board until the person completes a training program that complies with this section. (B) A training program established under this section must provide information to the member regarding: (1) the enabling legislation that created the office and the office’s programs, functions, rules, and budget; (2) the results of the most recent formal audit of the office; (3) the requirements of laws relating to open meetings, public information, administrative procedure, and conflicts of interest; and (4) any applicable ethics policies adopted by the office or the South Carolina Ethics Commission. (C) A person appointed to the board is entitled to reimbursement, as provided by the General Appropriations Act, for the travel expenses incurred in attending the training program regardless of whether the attendance at the program occurs before or after the person qualifies for office. Section 6425320. (A) For the purposes of this section, ‘South Carolina trade association’ means a cooperative and voluntarily joined statewide association of business or professional competitors in this state designed to assist its members and its industry or profession in dealing with mutual business or professional problems and in promoting their common interest. (B) A person may not be a member of the board and may not be an employee of the office employed in a ‘bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity,’ as that phrase is used for purposes of establishing an exemption to the overtime provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 201 et seq.) if: (1) the person is an officer, employee, or paid consultant of a South Carolina trade association in the field of insurance or health care; or