                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

COMPENSATION FOR DISABILITY FROM COAL WORKER&#8217;S PNEUMOCONIOSIS; INSURANCE
OF COAL OPERATOR (§ 65.2-504)

A. An employee eligible for an award for coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis
benefits shall be compensated according to the following schedule:

   1. For first stage coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis medically determined
   from radiographic evidence and classified under the current International
   Labour Office Classification of Radiographs of the Pneumoconioses where there
   is no present impairment for work, 66 2/3 percent of the average weekly wage
   as defined in &#xA7; 65.2-101, for fifty weeks, up to 100 percent of the
   average weekly wage of the Commonwealth as defined in &#xA7; 65.2-500.

   2. For second stage coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis medically determined
   from radiographic evidence and classified under the current International
   Labour Office Classification of Radiographs of the Pneumoconioses where there
   is no present impairment for work, 66 2/3 percent of the average weekly wage
   as defined in &#xA7; 65.2-101 for 100 weeks, up to 100 percent of the average
   weekly wage of the Commonwealth as defined in &#xA7; 65.2-500.

   3. For third stage coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis medically determined
   from radiographic evidence and classified under the current International
   Labour Office Classification of Radiographs of the Pneumoconioses and
   involving progressive massive fibrosis or medically classified as being A, B
   or C under the International Labour Office (hereafter referred to as I.L.O.)
   classifications but where there is no apparent impairment for work, 66 2/3
   percent of the average weekly wage as defined in &#xA7; 65.2-101, for 300
   weeks, up to 100 percent of the average weekly wage of the Commonwealth as
   defined in &#xA7; 65.2-500.

   4. For coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis medically determined to be A, B or C
   under the I.L.O. classifications or which involves progressive massive
   fibrosis, or for any stage of coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis when it is
   accompanied by sufficient pulmonary function loss as shown by approved medical
   tests and standards to render an employee totally unable to do manual labor in
   a dusty environment and the employee is instructed by competent medical
   authority not to attempt to do work in any mine or dusty environment and if he
   is in fact not working, it shall be deemed that he has a permanent disability
   and he shall receive 66 2/3 percent of his average weekly wage as defined in
   &#xA7; 65.2-101 during the three years prior to the date of filing of the
   claim, up to 100 percent of the average weekly wage of the Commonwealth as
   defined in &#xA7; 65.2-500 for his lifetime without limit as to the total
   amount.

B. In any case where partial disability as mentioned in subsection A of this
section later results in total disability, the employer shall receive credit on
any permanent disability payments by being allowed to deduct 25 percent of each
weekly payment until payments for partial disability hereunder have been fully
accounted for.

C. In any case where there is a question of whether a claimant with
pneumoconiosis is suffering from coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis or from some
other type of pneumoconiosis such as silicosis, it shall be conclusively
presumed that he is suffering from coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis if he has
had injurious exposure to coal dust.

D. In the event that any coal operator wishes to insure himself under standard
workers&#8217; compensation insurance rather than be self-insured against the
risks and liabilities imposed by this section or by &#xA7; 65.2-513, any such
insurance issued in this Commonwealth covering such risks shall be rated
separately for premium purposes and shall not affect workers&#8217; compensation
rates for any other employers not exposed to such risks.

E. All members of any panel or committee required to interpret or classify a
chest roentgenogram for purposes of diagnosing a coal worker&#8217;s
pneumoconiosis shall be B-readers approved by the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health.

HISTORY: 1972, c. 619, § 65.1-56.1; 1973, c. 436; 1974, cc. 201, 560; 1975, c.
447; 1990, c. 610; 1991, c. 355; 2000, cc. 408, 520; 2011, c. 513.