The North Carolina Industrial Commission has rolled out a couple of minor, but important, rules changes over the last several months. These include:
Increased Threshold for “Medical Only” Claims and Filing of First Report of Injury (Rule 11 NCAC 23A.0104)
A Form 19, Employer’s Report of Employee’s Injury or Occupational Disease to the Industrial Commission, is now required in “medical only” claims (no absence from work for more than one day due to the work injury) when medical compensation paid reaches $4,000. This is an increase from the prior threshold of $2,000. The rule still requires the employer, carrier, or administrator to provide the employee with a copy of the completed Form 19 along with a blank Form 18, Notice of Accident to Employer and Claim of Employee, Representative, or Dependent, for the employee’s use in making a claim.
Email Addresses for Receipt of Claim-Related Documents (Rule 11 NCAC 23A.0109)
For claims in which the Commission does not have an individual email address for a representative assigned to a claim, all carriers, TPAs, and self-insured employers are required to provide the Commission with an email address for receipt of claim-related documents. The email address may be provided to the Commission at contactinfo@ic.nc.gov.
The Commission’s Rules can be found at this link: http://www.ic.nc.gov/abtrules.html.
Article written by Jamie Flynn, a partner in Goodman McGuffey LLP’s Columbia, SC office. He handles insurance coverage, alleged bad faith practices, civil litigation defense, and workers’ compensation matters. He is licensed to practice in all state and federal courts in both South Carolina and North Carolina, and also handles North Carolina matters from the firm’s Charlotte office. He is a member of the CLM and previous State Chair. He is also an active member of DRI.
