Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-529 (2020)
Employer reports
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Within ten (10) days after the date of receipt of notice or of knowledge of injury or death, the employer shall send to the Workers' Compensation Commission a report setting forth:
- The name, address, and business of the employer;
- The name, address, and occupation of the employee;
- The cause and nature of the injury or death;
- The year, month, day, and hour when, and the particular locality where, the injury or death occurred; and
- Such other information as the commission may require.
- Additional reports with respect to the injury and of the condition of the employee shall be sent by the employer to the commission at such time and in such manner as the commission may prescribe.
- Any report provided for in subsection (a) or (b) of this section shall not be evidence of any fact stated in the report in any proceeding with respect to the injury or death on account of which the report is made.
- The mailing of any report in a stamped envelope, properly addressed, within the time prescribed in subsection (a) or (b) of this section, shall be in compliance with this section.
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- Any employer who after notice refuses to send any report required of it by this section shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount up to five hundred dollars ($500) for each refusal.
- Whenever the employer has failed or refused to comply as provided in this section, the commission may serve upon the employer a proposed order declaring the employer to be in violation of this chapter and containing the amount, if any, of the civil penalty to be assessed against the employer pursuant to this section.
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- An employer may contest a proposed order of the commission issued pursuant to subsection (e) of this section by filing with the commission, within twenty (20) days of receipt of the proposed order, a written request for a hearing.
- If a written request for hearing is not filed with the commission within this time, the proposed order, proposed penalty, or both, shall be a final order of the commission.
- Such a request for a hearing need not be in any particular form but shall specify the grounds upon which the person contests the proposed order, the proposed assessment, or both.
- A proposed order by the commission pursuant to this section is prima facie correct, and the burden is upon the employer to prove that the proposed order is incorrect.
- Hearings conducted under this section shall proceed as provided in §§ 11-9-704 — 11-9-711.
- If an employer fails to pay any civil penalty assessed against the employer after an order issued pursuant to this section has become final by operation of law, the commission may petition the circuit court of the county wherein is located the employer's principal place of business for an order enjoining the employer from engaging in further employment or conduct of business or until such time as the employer makes all required reports and pays all civil penalties.
History. Init. Meas. 1948, No. 4, § 34, Acts 1949, p. 1420; A.S.A. 1947, § 81-1334; Acts 1993, No. 796, § 26.
A.C.R.C. Notes. Acts 2001, No. 1757, § 9, provided, in part:
“Nothing in the act, which originated as House Bill 2646 of 2001, nor in Act 1552 of 1999 shall impliedly repeal any part of Act 796 of 1993. Act 796 of 1993 is expressly reaffirmed by this act, which originated as House Bill 2646 of 2001.”
Case Notes
Constitutionality.
This section is facially neutral and in no way violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; there is nothing in the language of this section to indicate that any individual or group of individuals is to be singled out for different treatment under similar circumstances. International Paper Co. v. McBride, 12 Ark. App. 400, 678 S.W.2d 375 (1984).
Where employer was afforded a hearing before the Workers' Compensation Commission to determine whether a lump-sum attorney's fee would be awarded, that hearing provided the employer due process of law in regard to the award of a lump-sum attorney's fee. International Paper Co. v. McBride, 12 Ark. App. 400, 678 S.W.2d 375 (1984).
Attorney's Fee.
Where, at the time petition seeking biweekly payments was filed, the claimant had a right to ask that his attorney be paid in one lump-sum, but he did not do so and the administrative law judge entered an award directing that the attorney's fees be paid on a biweekly basis as they accrued, the order of the administrative law judge became final after a period of 30 days not only as to the amount of compensation but also as to the manner in which it was to be paid, and a reopening of the matter was barred by the doctrine of res judicata. Gwin v. R.D. Hall Tank Co., 10 Ark. App. 12, 660 S.W.2d 947 (1983).
This section authorizes the commission to award lump-sum attorney's fees; no limitations are set forth, because none were apparently intended. The legislature must have intended to authorize the commission to award fees in any or all cases. Thus, the statute's guidelines are discernible; lump-sum attorney's fees can be awarded in any or all cases. International Paper Co. v. McBride, 12 Ark. App. 400, 678 S.W.2d 375 (1984).
Duty to Report.
The first duty to report an injury to the Workers' Compensation Commission lies with the employer not the employee, and the employer is not entitled to extend its duty to pay compensation within 15 days by withholding the filing of the claim with the commission in the first instance. Hart's Exxon Serv. Station v. Prater, 268 Ark. 961, 597 S.W.2d 130 (Ct. App. 1980).
Evidence sufficient to support commission's finding that the claim was controverted in its entirety since the employer must bear any loss resulting from its own reporting mistakes and delays. Hart's Exxon Serv. Station v. Prater, 268 Ark. 961, 597 S.W.2d 130 (Ct. App. 1980).
Failure to Report.
An employer's failure to file a report to the Workers' Compensation Commission within 10 days of receipt of knowledge of the claimant's injury did not render erroneous as a matter of law the Commission's decision that the plaintiff's claim was time-barred. Chambers v. International Paper Co., 56 Ark. App. 90, 938 S.W.2d 861 (1997).
Report as Claim.
Report and letters of employer to commission of death of employee did not constitute filing of a claim, since no request or demand was made for payment by dependents. Little v. Smith, 223 Ark. 601, 267 S.W.2d 511 (1954).
Cited: Ethridge v. Alexander Brown & Associates, 258 Ark. 444, 527 S.W.2d 591 (1975); Wilhelm v. Parsons, 2016 Ark. App. 56, 481 S.W.3d 767 (2016).