Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 48-151

Current with changes through the 2024 First Special Legislative Session

Section 48-151 - Terms, defined

Throughout the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act, the following words and phrases shall be considered to have the following meaning, respectively, unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning in the construction used:

(1) Physician means any person licensed to practice medicine and surgery, osteopathic medicine, chiropractic, podiatry, or dentistry in the State of Nebraska or in the state in which the physician is practicing;

(2) Accident means an unexpected or unforeseen injury happening suddenly and violently, with or without human fault, and producing at the time objective symptoms of an injury. The claimant has the burden of proof to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that such unexpected or unforeseen injury was in fact caused by the employment. There is no presumption from the mere occurrence of such unexpected or unforeseen injury that the injury was in fact caused by the employment;

(3) Occupational disease means only a disease which is due to causes and conditions which are characteristic of and peculiar to a particular trade, occupation, process, or employment and excludes all ordinary diseases of life to which the general public is exposed;

(4) Injury and personal injuries mean only violence to the physical structure of the body and such disease or infection as naturally results therefrom and personal injuries described in section 48-101.01. The terms include disablement resulting from occupational disease arising out of and in the course of the employment in which the employee was engaged and which was contracted in such employment. The terms include an aggravation of a preexisting occupational disease, the employer being liable only for the degree of aggravation of the preexisting occupational disease. The terms do not include disability or death due to natural causes but occurring while the employee is at work and do not include an injury, disability, or death that is the result of a natural progression of any preexisting condition;

(5) Death, when mentioned as a basis for the right to compensation, means only death resulting from such violence and its resultant effects or from occupational disease;

(6) Without otherwise affecting either the meaning or the interpretation of the abridged clause, personal injuries arising out of and in the course of employment, it is hereby declared not to cover workers except while engaged in, on, or about the premises where their duties are being performed or where their service requires their presence as a part of such service at the time of the injury and during the hours of service as such workers, and not to cover workers who on their own initiative leave their line of duty or hours of employment for purposes of their own. Property maintained by an employer is considered the premises of such employer for purposes of determining whether the injury arose out of employment;

(7) Willful negligence consists of (a) a deliberate act, (b) such conduct as evidences reckless indifference to safety, or (c) intoxication at the time of the injury, such intoxication being without the consent, knowledge, or acquiescence of the employer or the employer's agent;

(8) Intoxication includes, but is not limited to, being under the influence of a controlled substance not prescribed by a physician;

(9) Prospective loss costs means prospective loss costs as defined in section 44-7504 and prepared, filed, or distributed by an advisory organization which has been issued a certificate of authority pursuant to section 44-7518;

(10) Client means client as defined in section 48-2702;

(11) Professional employer organization means professional employer organization as defined in section 48-2702;

(12) Multiple coordinated policy means multiple coordinated policy as defined in section 48-2702;

(13) Master policy means master policy as defined in section 48-2702; and

(14) Whenever in the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act the singular is used, the plural is considered included; when the masculine gender is used, the feminine is considered included.

Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 48-151

Laws 1913, c. 198, § 52, p. 601; R.S.1913, § 3693; Laws 1917, c. 85, § 23, p. 216; Laws 1921, c. 122, § 1, p. 528; C.S.1922, § 3075; C.S.1929, § 48-152; Laws 1935, c. 57, § 42, p. 211; Laws 1937, c. 107, § 1, p. 367; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 48-152; Laws 1943, c. 113, § 3, p. 398; R.S.1943, § 48-151; Laws 1947, c. 174, § 2, p. 560; Laws 1963, c. 284, § 3, p. 852; Laws 1963, c. 287, § 1, p. 862; Laws 1986, LB 811, § 78; Laws 1993, LB 757, § 15; Laws 1998, LB 1010, § 4; Laws 1999, LB 216, § 12; Laws 2000, LB 1119, § 40; Laws 2010, LB 579, § 18; Laws 2010, LB 780, § 2.