Iowa Code § 85B.11

This is the official text of Iowa Code § 85B.11, part of Iowa’s Code — part of the compiled statutory law of Iowa, published by the state as "Code." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Previous hearing loss excluded.

Official statutory text

An employer is liable, as provided in this chapter and subject to the provisions of chapter 85, for an occupational hearing loss to which the employment has contributed, but if previous hearing loss, whether occupational or not, is established by an audiometric examination or other competent evidence, whether or not the employee was subjected to excessive noise exposure within six months preceding the test, the employer is not liable for the previous loss, nor is the employer liable for a loss for which compensation has previously been paid or awarded. The employer is liable only for the difference between the percent of occupational hearing loss determined as of the date of the audiometric examination used to determine occupational hearing loss and the percentage of loss established by the preemployment audiometric examination. An amount paid to an employee for occupational hearing loss by any other employer shall be credited against compensation payable by an employer for the hearing loss. An employee shall not receive in the aggregate greater compensation from all employers for occupational hearing loss than that provided in this section for total occupational hearing loss. A payment shall not be made to an employee unless the employee has worked in excessive noise exposure employment for a total period of at least ninety days for the employer from whom compensation is claimed.

[C81, §85B.11]98 Acts, ch 1160, §9; 99 Acts, ch 96, §7

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

Need a lawyer in Iowa?

Find a Iowa lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.