Okla. Stat. tit. 85A, § 85A-2v1

As used in the Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act:

1. “Actually dependent” means a surviving spouse, a child or

any other person who receives one-half (1/2) or more of his or her

support from the employee;

2. “Carrier” means any stock company, mutual company, or

reciprocal or interinsurance exchange authorized to write or carry

on the business of workers’ compensation insurance in this state.

Whenever required by the context, the term carrier shall be deemed

to include duly qualified self-insureds or self-insured groups;

3. “Case management” means the ongoing coordination, by a case

manager, of health care services provided to an injured or disabled

worker, including but not limited to systematically monitoring the

treatment rendered and the medical progress of the injured or

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 85A. Workers' Compensation Page 4

disabled worker; ensuring that any treatment plan follows all

appropriate treatment protocols, utilization controls and practice

parameters; assessing whether alternative health care services are

appropriate and delivered in a cost-effective manner based upon

acceptable medical standards; and ensuring that the injured or

disabled worker is following the prescribed health care plan;

4. “Case manager” means a person who is a registered nurse with

a current, active unencumbered license from the Oklahoma Board of

Nursing, or possesses one or more of the following certifications

which indicate the individual has a minimum number of years of case

management experience, has passed a national competency test and

regularly obtains continuing education hours to maintain

certification:

a. Certified Disability Management Specialist (CDMS),

b. Certified Case Manager (CCM),

c. Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurse (CRRN),

d. Case Manager - Certified (CMC),

e. Certified Occupational Health Nurse (COHN), or

f. Certified Occupational Health Nurse Specialist (COHN-

S);

5. “Certified workplace medical plan” means an organization of

health care providers or any other entity, certified by the State

Commissioner of Health, that is authorized to enter into a

contractual agreement with an employer, a group self-insurance

association plan, an employer’s workers’ compensation insurance

carrier, a third-party administrator or an insured to provide

medical care under the Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act.

Certified plans shall only include plans which provide medical

services and payment for services on a fee-for-service basis to

medical providers;

6. “Child” means a natural or adopted son or daughter of the

employee under eighteen (18) years of age; or a natural or adopted

son or daughter of an employee eighteen (18) years of age or over

who is physically or mentally incapable of self-support; or any

natural or adopted son or daughter of an employee eighteen (18)

years of age or over who is actually dependent; or any natural or

adopted son or daughter of an employee between eighteen (18) and

twenty-three (23) years of age who is enrolled as a full-time

student in any accredited educational institution. The term child

includes a posthumous child, a child legally adopted or one for whom

adoption proceedings are pending at the time of death, an actually

dependent stepchild or an actually dependent acknowledged child born

out of wedlock;

7. “Claimant” means a person who claims benefits for an injury

or occupational disease pursuant to the provisions of the

Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act;

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 85A. Workers' Compensation Page 5

8. “Commission” means the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation

Commission;

9. a. “Compensable injury” means damage or harm to the

physical structure of the body, or damage or harm to

prosthetic appliances, including eyeglasses, contact

lenses, or hearing aids, of which the major cause is

either an accident, cumulative trauma or occupational

disease arising out of the course and scope of
n Page 5

8. “Commission” means the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation

Commission;

9. a. “Compensable injury” means damage or harm to the

physical structure of the body, or damage or harm to

prosthetic appliances, including eyeglasses, contact

lenses, or hearing aids, of which the major cause is

either an accident, cumulative trauma or occupational

disease arising out of the course and scope of

employment. An “accident” means an event involving

factors external to the employee that:

(1) was unintended, unanticipated, unforeseen,

unplanned and unexpected,

(2) occurred at a specifically identifiable time and

place,

(3) occurred by chance or from unknown causes, or

(4) was independent of sickness, mental incapacity,

bodily infirmity or any other cause.

b. Compensable injury does not include:

(1) injury to any active participant in assaults or

combats which, although they may occur in the

workplace, are the result of non-employment-

related hostility or animus of one, both, or all

of the combatants and which assault or combat

amounts to a deviation from customary duties;

provided, however, injuries caused by horseplay

shall not be considered to be compensable

injuries, except for innocent victims,

(2) injury incurred while engaging in or performing

or as the result of engaging in or performing any

recreational or social activities for the

employee’s personal pleasure,

(3) injury which was inflicted on the employee at a

time when employment services were not being

performed or before the employee was hired or

after the employment relationship was terminated,

(4) injury if the accident was caused by the use of

alcohol, illegal drugs, or prescription drugs

used in contravention of physician’s orders. If

a biological specimen is collected within twenty-

four (24) hours of the employee being injured or

reporting an injury, or if at any time after the

injury a biological specimen is collected by the

Office of the Chief Medical Examiner if the

injured employee does not survive for at least

twenty-four (24) hours after the injury and the

employee tests positive for intoxication, an

illegal controlled substance, or a legal

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controlled substance used in contravention to a

treating physician’s orders, or refuses to

undergo the drug and alcohol testing, there shall

be a rebuttable presumption that the injury was

caused by the use of alcohol, illegal drugs, or

prescription drugs used in contravention of

physician’s orders. This presumption may only be

overcome if the employee proves by clear and

convincing evidence that his or her state of

intoxication had no causal relationship to the

injury,

(5) any strain, degeneration, damage or harm to, or

disease or condition of, the eye or

musculoskeletal structure or other body part

resulting from the natural results of aging,

osteoarthritis, arthritis, or degenerative

process including, but not limited to,

degenerative joint disease, degenerative disc

disease, degenerative

spondylosis/spondylolisthesis and spinal

stenosis, or
injury,

(5) any strain, degeneration, damage or harm to, or

disease or condition of, the eye or

musculoskeletal structure or other body part

resulting from the natural results of aging,

osteoarthritis, arthritis, or degenerative

process including, but not limited to,

degenerative joint disease, degenerative disc

disease, degenerative

spondylosis/spondylolisthesis and spinal

stenosis, or

(6) any preexisting condition except when the

treating physician clearly confirms an

identifiable and significant aggravation incurred

in the course and scope of employment.

c. A compensable injury shall be established by medical

evidence supported by objective findings as defined in

paragraph 31 of this section.

d. The injured employee shall prove by a preponderance of

the evidence that he or she has suffered a compensable

injury.

e. Benefits shall not be payable for a condition which

results from a non-work-related independent

intervening cause following a compensable injury which

causes or prolongs disability or aggravation or

requires treatment. A non-work-related independent

intervening cause does not require negligence or

recklessness on the part of a claimant.

f. An employee who suffers a compensable injury shall be

entitled to receive compensation as prescribed in the

Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act.

Notwithstanding other provisions of law, if it is

determined that a compensable injury did not occur,

the employee shall not be entitled to compensation

under the Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act;

10. “Compensation” means the money allowance payable to the

employee or to his or her dependents and includes the medical

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 85A. Workers' Compensation Page 7

services and supplies provided for in Section 50 of this title and

funeral expenses;

11. “Consequential injury” means injury or harm to a part of

the body that is a direct result of the injury or medical treatment

to the part of the body originally injured in the claim. The

Commission shall not make a finding of a consequential injury unless

it is established by objective medical evidence that medical

treatment for such part of the body is required;

12. “Continuing medical maintenance” means medical treatment

that is reasonable and necessary to maintain a claimant’s condition

resulting from the compensable injury or illness after reaching

maximum medical improvement. Continuing medical maintenance shall

not include diagnostic tests, surgery, injections, counseling,

physical therapy, or pain management devices or equipment;

13. “Course and scope of employment” means an activity of any

kind or character for which the employee was hired and that relates

to and derives from the work, business, trade or profession of an

employer, and is performed by an employee in the furtherance of the

affairs or business of an employer. The term includes activities

conducted on the premises of an employer or at other locations

designated by an employer and travel by an employee in furtherance

of the affairs of an employer that is specifically directed by the

employer. This term does not include:

a. an employee’s transportation to and from his or her

place of employment,

b. travel by an employee in furtherance of the affairs of

an employer if the travel is also in furtherance of

personal or private affairs of the employee,

c. any injury occurring in a parking lot or other common

area adjacent to an employer’s place of business

before the employee clocks in or otherwise begins work

for the employer or after the employee clocks out or

otherwise stops work for the employer unless the

employer owns or maintains exclusive control over the

area, or

d. any injury occurring while an employee is on a work

break, unless the injury occurs while the employee is

on a work break inside the employer’s facility or in

an area owned by or exclusively controlled by the
ise begins work

for the employer or after the employee clocks out or

otherwise stops work for the employer unless the

employer owns or maintains exclusive control over the

area, or

d. any injury occurring while an employee is on a work

break, unless the injury occurs while the employee is

on a work break inside the employer’s facility or in

an area owned by or exclusively controlled by the

employer and the work break is authorized by the

employee’s supervisor;

14. “Cumulative trauma” means an injury to an employee that is

caused by the combined effect of repetitive physical activities

extending over a period of time in the course and scope of

employment. Cumulative trauma shall not mean fatigue, soreness or

general aches and pain that may have been caused, aggravated,

exacerbated or accelerated by the employee’s course and scope of

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employment. Cumulative trauma shall have resulted directly and

independently of all other causes;

15. “Death” means only death resulting from compensable injury

as defined in paragraph 9 of this section;

16. “Disability” means incapacity because of compensable injury

to earn, in the same or any other employment, substantially the same

amount of wages the employee was receiving at the time of the

compensable injury;

17. “Drive-away operations” includes every person engaged in

the business of transporting and delivering new or used vehicles by

driving, either singly or by towbar, saddle-mount or full-mount

method, or any combination thereof, with or without towing a

privately owned vehicle;

18. a. “Employee” means any person, including a minor, in the

service of an employer under any contract of hire or

apprenticeship, written or oral, expressed or implied,

but excluding one whose employment is casual and not

in the course of the trade, business, profession, or

occupation of his or her employer and excluding one

who is required to perform work for a municipality or

county or the state or federal government on having

been convicted of a criminal offense or while

incarcerated. Employee shall also include a member of

the Oklahoma National Guard while in the performance

of duties only while in response to state orders and

any authorized voluntary or uncompensated worker,

rendering services as a firefighter, law enforcement

officer or emergency management worker. Travel by a

police officer, fireman, or a member of a first aid or

rescue squad, in responding to and returning from an

emergency, shall be deemed to be in the course of

employment.

b. The term employee shall not include:

(1) any person for whom an employer is liable under

any Act of Congress for providing compensation to

employees for injuries, disease or death arising

out of and in the course of employment including,

but not limited to, the Federal Employees’

Compensation Act, the Federal Employers’

Liability Act, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’

Compensation Act and the Jones Act, to the extent

his or her employees are subject to such acts,
liable under

any Act of Congress for providing compensation to

employees for injuries, disease or death arising

out of and in the course of employment including,

but not limited to, the Federal Employees’

Compensation Act, the Federal Employers’

Liability Act, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’

Compensation Act and the Jones Act, to the extent

his or her employees are subject to such acts,

(2) any person who is employed in agriculture,

ranching or horticulture by an employer who had a

gross annual payroll in the preceding calendar

year of less than One Hundred Thousand Dollars

($100,000.00) wages for agricultural, ranching or

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horticultural workers, or any person who is

employed in agriculture, ranching or horticulture

who is not engaged in operation of motorized

machines. This exemption applies to any period

of time for which such employment exists,

irrespective of whether or not the person is

employed in other activities for which the

exemption does not apply. If the person is

employed for part of a year in exempt activities

and for part of a year in nonexempt activities,

the employer shall be responsible for providing

workers’ compensation only for the period of time

for which the person is employed in nonexempt

activities,

(3) any person who is a licensed real estate sales

associate or broker, paid on a commission basis,

(4) any person employed by an employer with five or

fewer total employees, all of whom are related

within the second degree by blood or marriage to

the employer, all of whom are dependents living

in the household of the employer, or all of whom

are a combination of such relatives and

dependents. If the employer is not a natural

person such relative shall be related within the

second degree by blood or marriage to a person

who owns fifty percent (50%) or more of the

employer, or such dependent shall be in the

household of a person who owns fifty percent

(50%) or more of the employer,

(5) any person employed by an employer which is a

youth sports league which qualifies for exemption

from federal income taxation pursuant to federal

law,

(6) sole proprietors, members of a partnership,

individuals who are party to a franchise

agreement as set out by the Federal Trade

Commission franchise disclosure rule, 16 CFR

436.1 through 436.11, members of a limited

liability company who own at least ten percent

(10%) of the capital of the limited liability

company or any stockholder-employees of a

corporation who own ten percent (10%) or more

stock in the corporation, unless they elect to be

covered by a policy of insurance covering

benefits under the Administrative Workers’

Compensation Act,

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(7) any person providing or performing voluntary

service who receives no wages for the services

other than meals, drug or alcohol rehabilitative

therapy, transportation, lodging or reimbursement

for incidental expenses except for volunteers

specifically provided for in subparagraph a of

this paragraph,

(8) a person, commonly referred to as an owner-

operator, who owns or leases a truck-tractor or

truck for hire, if the owner-operator actually

operates the truck-tractor or truck and if the

person contracting with the owner-operator is not

the lessor of the truck-tractor or truck.

Provided, however, an owner-operator shall not be

precluded from workers’ compensation coverage

under the Administrative Workers’ Compensation

Act if the owner-operator elects to participate

as a sole proprietor,
for hire, if the owner-operator actually

operates the truck-tractor or truck and if the

person contracting with the owner-operator is not

the lessor of the truck-tractor or truck.

Provided, however, an owner-operator shall not be

precluded from workers’ compensation coverage

under the Administrative Workers’ Compensation

Act if the owner-operator elects to participate

as a sole proprietor,

(9) a person referred to as a drive-away owner-

operator who privately owns and utilizes a tow

vehicle in drive-away operations and operates

independently for hire, if the drive-away owner-

operator actually utilizes the tow vehicle and if

the person contracting with the drive-away owner-

operator is not the lessor of the tow vehicle.

Provided, however, a drive-away owner-operator

shall not be precluded from workers’ compensation

coverage under the Administrative Workers’

Compensation Act if the drive-away owner-operator

elects to participate as a sole proprietor,

(10) any person who is employed as a domestic servant

or as a casual worker in and about a private home

or household, which private home or household had

a gross annual payroll in the preceding calendar

year of less than Fifty Thousand Dollars

($50,000.00) for such workers, and

(11) any person engaging in a temporary work

arrangement that allows the individual to observe

a work environment and gain work experience

without the expectation of financial

compensation;

19. “Employer” means a natural person, partnership,

association, limited liability company, corporation, and the legal

representatives of a deceased employer, or the receiver or trustee

of a person, partnership, association, corporation, or limited

liability company, departments, instrumentalities and institutions

of this state and divisions thereof, counties and divisions thereof,

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 85A. Workers' Compensation Page 11

public trusts, boards of education and incorporated cities or towns

and divisions thereof, employing a person included within the term

employee as defined in this section. Employer may also mean the

employer’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier, if applicable.

Except as provided otherwise, the Administrative Workers’

Compensation Act applies to all public and private entities and

institutions;

20. “Employment” includes work or labor in a trade, business,

occupation or activity carried on by an employer or any authorized

voluntary or uncompensated worker rendering services as a

firefighter, peace officer or emergency management worker;

21. “Evidence-based” means expert-based, literature-supported

and outcomes validated by well-designed randomized trials when such

information is available and which uses the best available evidence

to support medical decision making;

22. “Gainful employment” means the capacity to perform

employment for wages for a period of time that is not part-time,

occasional or sporadic;

23. “Impaired self-insurer” means a private self-insurer or

group self-insurance association that fails to pay its workers’

compensation obligations, or is financially unable to do so and is

the subject of any proceeding under the Federal Bankruptcy Reform

Act of 1978, and any subsequent amendments or is the subject of any

proceeding in which a receiver, custodian, liquidator,

rehabilitator, trustee or similar officer has been appointed by a

court of competent jurisdiction to act in lieu of or on behalf of

the self-insurer;

24. “Incapacity” means inadequate strength or ability to

perform a work-related task;

25. “Insurance Commissioner” means the Insurance Commissioner

of this state;

26. “Insurance Department” means the Insurance Department of

this state;

27. “Major cause” means more than fifty percent (50%) of the

resulting injury, disease or illness. A finding of major cause

shall be established by a preponderance of the evidence. A finding
strength or ability to

perform a work-related task;

25. “Insurance Commissioner” means the Insurance Commissioner

of this state;

26. “Insurance Department” means the Insurance Department of

this state;

27. “Major cause” means more than fifty percent (50%) of the

resulting injury, disease or illness. A finding of major cause

shall be established by a preponderance of the evidence. A finding

that the workplace was not a major cause of the injury, disease or

illness shall not adversely affect the exclusive remedy provisions

of the Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act and shall not create

a separate cause of action outside the Administrative Workers’

Compensation Act;

28. “Maximum medical improvement” means that no further

material improvement would reasonably be expected from medical

treatment or the passage of time;

29. “Medical services” means those services specified in

Section 50 of this title;

30. “Misconduct” shall include the following:

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 85A. Workers' Compensation Page 12

a. unexplained absenteeism or tardiness,

b. willful or wanton indifference to or neglect of the

duties required,

c. willful or wanton breach of any duty required by the

employer,

d. the mismanagement of a position of employment by

action or inaction,

e. actions or omissions that place in jeopardy the

health, life, or property of self or others,

f. dishonesty,

g. wrongdoing,

h. violation of a law, or

i. violation of a policy or rule adopted to ensure

orderly work or the safety of self or others;

31. a. (1) “Objective findings” are those findings which

cannot come under the voluntary control of the

patient.

(2) (a) When determining permanent disability, a

physician, any other medical provider, an

administrative law judge, the Commission or

the courts shall not consider complaints of

pain.

(b) For the purpose of making permanent

disability ratings to the spine, physicians

shall use criteria established by the Sixth

Edition of the American Medical Association

“Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent

Impairment”.

(3) (a) Objective evidence necessary to prove

permanent disability in occupational hearing

loss cases may be established by medically

recognized and accepted clinical diagnostic

methodologies, including, but not limited

to, audiological tests that measure air and

bone conduction thresholds and speech

discrimination ability.

(b) Any difference in the baseline hearing

levels shall be confirmed by subsequent

testing; provided, however, such test shall

be given within four (4) weeks of the

initial baseline hearing level test but not

before five (5) days after being adjusted

for presbycusis.

b. Medical opinions addressing compensability and

permanent disability shall be stated within a

reasonable degree of medical certainty;

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 85A. Workers' Compensation Page 13

32. “Official Disability Guidelines” or “ODG” means the current

edition of the Official Disability Guidelines and the ODG Treatment

in Workers’ Comp as published by the Work Loss Data Institute;

33. “Permanent disability” means the extent, expressed as a

percentage, of the loss of a portion of the total physiological

capabilities of the human body as established by competent medical

evidence and based on the Sixth Edition of the American Medical

Association “Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment”, if

the impairment is contained therein;

34. “Permanent partial disability” means a permanent disability

or loss of use after maximum medical improvement has been reached

which prevents the injured employee, who has been released to return

to work by the treating physician, from returning to his or her pre-

injury or equivalent job. All evaluations of permanent partial

disability must be supported by objective findings;

35. “Permanent total disability” means, based on objective

findings, incapacity, based upon accidental injury or occupational
as been reached

which prevents the injured employee, who has been released to return

to work by the treating physician, from returning to his or her pre-

injury or equivalent job. All evaluations of permanent partial

disability must be supported by objective findings;

35. “Permanent total disability” means, based on objective

findings, incapacity, based upon accidental injury or occupational

disease, to earn wages in any employment for which the employee may

become physically suited and reasonably fitted by education,

training, experience or vocational rehabilitation provided under the

Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act. Loss of both hands, both

feet, both legs, or both eyes, or any two thereof, shall constitute

permanent total disability;

36. “Preexisting condition” means any illness, injury, disease,

or other physical or mental condition, whether or not work-related,

for which medical advice, diagnosis, care or treatment was

recommended or received preceding the date of injury;

37. “Pre-injury or equivalent job” means the job that the

claimant was working for the employer at the time the injury

occurred or any other employment offered by the claimant’s employer

that pays at least one hundred percent (100%) of the employee’s

average weekly wage;

38. “Private self-insurer” means a private employer that has

been authorized to self-insure its workers’ compensation obligations

pursuant to the Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act, but does

not include group self-insurance associations authorized by the

Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act, or any public employer

that self-insures pursuant to the Administrative Workers’

Compensation Act;

39. “Prosthetic” means an artificial device used to replace a

part or joint of the body that is lost or injured in an accident or

illness covered by the Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act;

40. “Scheduled member” or “member” means hands, fingers, arms,

legs, feet, toes, and eyes. In addition, for purposes of the

Multiple Injury Trust Fund only, scheduled member means hearing

impairment;

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 85A. Workers' Compensation Page 14

41. “Scientifically based” involves the application of

rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain reliable

and valid knowledge relevant to medical testing, diagnoses and

treatment; is adequate to justify the general conclusions drawn; and

has been accepted by a peer-review journal or approved by a panel of

independent experts through a comparably rigorous, objective, and

scientific review;

42. “State average weekly wage” means the state average weekly

wage determined by the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission in

the preceding calendar year. If such determination is not

available, the Commission shall determine the wage annually after

reasonable investigation;

43. “Subcontractor” means a person, firm, corporation or other

legal entity hired by the general or prime contractor to perform a

specific task for the completion of a work-related activity;

44. “Surgery” does not include an injection, or the forcing of

fluids beneath the skin, for treatment or diagnosis;

45. “Surviving spouse” means the employee’s spouse by reason of

a legal marriage recognized by this state or under the requirements

of a common law marriage in this state, as determined by the

Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission;

46. “Temporary partial disability” means an injured employee

who is temporarily unable to perform his or her job, but may perform

alternative work offered by the employer;

47. “Time of accident” or “date of accident” means the time or

date of the occurrence of the accidental incident from which

compensable injury, disability, or death results; and

48. “Wages” means money compensation received for employment at

the time of the accident, including the reasonable value of board,

rent, housing, lodging, or similar advantage received from the
fered by the employer;

47. “Time of accident” or “date of accident” means the time or

date of the occurrence of the accidental incident from which

compensable injury, disability, or death results; and

48. “Wages” means money compensation received for employment at

the time of the accident, including the reasonable value of board,

rent, housing, lodging, or similar advantage received from the

employer and includes the amount of tips required to be reported by

the employer under Section 6053 of the Internal Revenue Code and the

regulations promulgated pursuant thereto or the amount of actual

tips reported, whichever amount is greater.