Rhode Island General Laws 28-34-7. Concealment of previous disease – Occupational disease as partial cause
No compensation shall be payable for an occupational disease if the employee, at the time of entering into the employment of the employer by whom the compensation would otherwise be payable, or thereafter, willfully and falsely represents in writing that he or she has not previously had the disease that is the cause of the disability or death. Where an occupational disease is aggravated by any other disease or infirmity, not itself compensable, or where disability or death from any other cause, not itself compensable, is aggravated, prolonged, accelerated, or in any way contributed to by an occupational disease, the compensation payable shall be the proportion only of the compensation that would be payable if the occupational disease were the sole cause of the disability or death as that occupational disease, as a causative factor, bears to all the causes of that disability or death, the reduction in compensation to be effected by reducing the number of weekly payments or the amounts of the payments, as under the circumstances of the particular case may be for the best interests of the claimant or claimants.
History of Section.
G.L. 1923, ch. 92, art. 8, § 7; P.L. 1936, ch. 2358, § 9; G.L. 1938, ch. 300, art. 8, § 7; P.L. 1954, ch. 3297, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 28-34-7; P.L. 1999, ch. 83, § 65; P.L. 1999, ch. 130, § 65.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 28-34-7
- Disability: means the state of being disabled from earning full wages at the work at which the employee was last employed. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-34-1
- Employee: means any person who has entered into the employment of or works under contract of service or apprenticeship with any employer, except that in the case of a city or town other than the city of Providence it shall only mean that class or those classes of employees as may be designated by a city, town, or regional school district in a manner provided in this chapter to receive compensation under chapters 29 — 38 of this title. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
- in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
- Occupational disease: means a disease that is due to causes and conditions that are characteristic of and peculiar to a particular trade, occupation, process, or employment. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-34-1