HB 21-1050: Workers' Compensation Act Amendments

• Employers must furnish guardian ad litem and conservator services for work-injured employees and pay fees set by director rule for reasonable attorney fees and guardian/conservator costs.

• Claimants must submit mileage expense reimbursement requests within 120 days of incurring travel costs for compensable treatment; employers/insurers have 30 days to pay or deny with written notice.

• Eliminates apportionment-based reductions to temporary disability, temporary partial disability, and permanent medical impairment benefits; shifts burden of proof on apportionment to employers/insurers.

• Reduces impairment rating thresholds for disability payment caps from 25% to 19%, lowering maximum combined temporary and permanent partial disability benefits for lower-rated impairments from $75,000 to unchanged amounts.

• Restricts independent medical examiners to cases where authorized treating physicians fail to determine maximum medical improvement after receiving written examination reports; prohibits withdrawal of liability admissions after two years except for fraud.