WORKERS COMP REFORMS

Among other changes, the law also will:

• Allow insurers and employers to challenge a legal presumption of total and permanent disability when a worker suffers the loss of at least 50% of use of his or her back.

• Reverse a court decision that prevented claims adjusters from speaking to claimants' doctors.

• Require workers to prove with a preponderance of evidence that mental injury and stress is caused by their jobs when physical trauma is absent.

• Shift appeals of Workers' Compensation Commission decisions from trial courts to South Carolina's Court of Appeals.

• Set a time limit for filing repetitive trauma claims and require medical proof of a relationship to work duties.