                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

COMPENSATION FOR DEATH FROM COAL WORKER&#8217;S PNEUMOCONIOSIS; DETERMINING
WHETHER DEATH WAS DUE TO PNEUMOCONIOSIS OR ANY CHRONIC OCCUPATIONAL LUNG DISEASE
(§ 65.2-513)

A. If death results from coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis or if the employee
was totally disabled by coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis at the time of his
death and claim for compensation is made within three years after such death,
the employer shall pay or cause to be paid to the surviving spouse of the
deceased employee until his death or remarriage or the minor dependents of the
employee until such minor dependents reach the age of eighteen (or twenty-three,
so long as they remain as full-time students in a generally accredited
institution of learning) or such other legal dependents as the deceased employee
might have had at the time of his death for the duration of such dependency, 66
2/3 percent of the employee&#8217;s average weekly wage during the last three
years that he worked in the coal mines, up to 100 percent of the average weekly
wage of the Commonwealth as defined in &#xA7; 65.2-500 without any specific
limit as to the number of such weeks. However, any claim for compensation of an
employee who was totally disabled by coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis at the
time of his death shall be paid only to the extent required by federal law.

B. The Commission shall, by regulation duly drawn and published after notice and
hearing, prescribe standards, not inconsistent with those prescribed by the
Secretary of Health and Human Services under the 1969 Federal Coal Mine Health
and Safety Act, as amended, for determining whether the death or total
disability of an employee was due to pneumoconiosis or any chronic occupational
lung disease.

C. In prescribing such standards the following factors shall be included:

   1. If an employee who died from a respirable (respiratory) disease was
   employed for ten years or more in an environment where he was injuriously
   exposed to such a disease, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that his
   disease arose out of such employment, or if he became totally disabled from
   coal worker&#8217;s pneumoconiosis or if such disease significantly
   contributed to his death or disability, there shall be a rebuttable
   presumption that his death or disability was due to such disease.

   2. Where there is clear evidence of exposure to an occupational lung disease,
   the Commission may make its determination whether compensation is payable to
   the dependents based on the description of the employee&#8217;s symptoms,
   X-rays, and other competent medical evidence, and the opinion of experts as to
   whether those symptoms reasonably described the symptoms of such an
   occupational disease.

   3. The statement as to the cause of death on a death certificate may be
   considered as evidence in any such cases but shall not be controlling on the
   Commission&#8217;s findings. The Commission may also, by regulation, establish
   standards, not inconsistent with those prescribed by the Secretary of Labor
   under the 1969 Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act as amended, for
   apportioning liability for benefits under this section and under &#xA7;
   65.2-504 A 4 among more than one operator, where such apportionment is
   appropriate, provided that no apportionment shall operate to deprive an
   employee of the full benefits due him under this title.

HISTORY: 1972, c. 619, § 65.1-65.1; 1973, cc. 401, 436; 1974, c. 560; 1975, c.
447; 1991, c. 355.