Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 20 > Chapter 191 > Subchapter 1 - General Provisions

• Child: includes a stepchild, adopted child, posthumous child, grandchild, and a child for whom parentage has been established pursuant to 15 Vt. See
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Labor or the Commissioner's designee. See
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Department: means the Department of Public Safety. See
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Domestic: when applied to a corporation, company, association, or copartnership shall mean organized under the laws of this State; "foreign" when so applied, shall mean organized under the laws of another state, government, or country. See
• employee: means an individual who has entered into the employment of, or works under contract of service or apprenticeship with, an employer. See
• Employer: includes any body of persons, corporate or unincorporated, public or private, and the legal representative of a deceased employer, and includes the owner or lessee of premises or other person who is virtually the proprietor or operator of the business there carried on, but who, by reason of there being an independent contractor or for any other reason, is not the direct employer of the workers there employed. See
• Employment: includes public employment, and, in the case of private employers, includes all employment in any trade or occupation notwithstanding that an employer may be a nonprofit corporation, institution, association, partnership, or proprietorship. See
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• Grandchild: includes a child of an adopted child and a child of a stepchild, but does not include a stepchild of a child, a stepchild of a stepchild, a stepchild of an adopted child, or a married grandchild unless dependent. See
• Grandparent: includes a parent of a parent by adoption, but does not include a parent of a stepparent, a stepparent of a parent, or a stepparent of a stepparent. See
• Insurance carrier: includes any corporation from which an employer has obtained workers' compensation insurance or guaranty insurance in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. See
• Maximum weekly compensation: shall mean a sum of money equal to 150 percent of the average compensation, rounded to the next higher dollar. See
• Minimum weekly compensation: shall mean a sum of money equal to 50 percent of the average compensation, rounded to the next higher dollar. See
• Parent: includes a stepparent and a parent by adoption. See
• Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• personal injury: includes occupational diseases, death resulting from injury within two years and includes injury to and cost of acquiring and replacement of prosthetic devices, hearing aids, and eye glasses. See
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• sister: includes a stepbrother and stepsister, half-brother and half-sister, and a brother and sister by adoption, but does not include a married brother or a married sister unless dependent. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Wages: includes bonuses and the market value of board, lodging, fuel, and other advantages that can be estimated in money and that the employee receives from the employer as a part of his or her remuneration; but does not include any sum paid by the employer to his or her employee to cover any special expenses entailed on the employee by the nature of his or her employment. See