Georgia (SITF) Subsequent Injury Trust Fund: aiding workers with disabilities and their employers

The Georgia Subsequent Injury Trust Fund (SITF) promotes the employment and retention ofworkers
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with disabilities.
The fund helps:
Workers with disabilities ...by providing employers who are not subject to ADA with incentives to hire or retain qualified workers with disabilities;
Employers ...by keeping Workers' Compensation insurance premiums under control, helping to maintain insurability, and ensuring that the employer does not face workers' compensation exposure above the deductible levels;
Workers' Compensation insurance carriers ...by easing the burden of high payments due to job-related injuries involving workers with
, pre-e~sting disabilities.
SITF History
The Subsequent Injury Trust Fund was passed into law by the Georgia General Assembly on July 1, 1977. The fund was established as a separate state agency independent from any other department, and is governed by a five-member board of trustees appointed by the governor. An administrator appointed by the board oversees the daily management and operation of the fund.

SITF Funding
The SITF is not funded through taxpayer contributions. It is funded through: annual assessments against self-insured em-
ployers and Workers' Compensation insurance carriers.
For More Information
Complete claim guidelines are available from SITF in a publication SITF Guidelines for Claims Procedures and Evaluation. For a free copy, write or call:
The Georgia Subsequent Injury Trust Fund Suite 124 Two Northside 75 Atlanta, GA 30318-7784 Telephone number: (404) 352-6060 TDD number: (404) 352-4881
All contact information concerning claims and other applicable SITF matters should be directed to the above address.
The Notice of Claim Form and Employer Knowledge Affidavit Form will be provided by the SITF upon request free of charge.
$427.90 3M

Basic Claim Information
The Subsequent Injury Trust Fund may be accessed when an employee is injured, and the injury combines with a previous, known impairment to cause greater. Workers' Compensation claims cost. Notification of a claim should be handled by mail. See the SITF Guidelines for Claims Procedures and Evaluation for full information about filing claims.
Tobe eligible for SITF reimbursement:
the employee's subsequent injury must be either directly caused by the prior impairment, or combine with the prior impairment to create greater employer liability for lost time benefits and medical expenses;
the employee must have a pre-existing impairment that the employer considers to be permanent and a hindrance to employment;
the employer must have knowledge of the prior impairment before the subsequent injury occurs.
Where the employer can demonstrate prior knowledge of any of the following conditions, the law presumes that the employer considered the condition to be permanent and a hiIIdrance to employment.
Epilepsy Diabetes Arthritis which is an obstacle to employment Amputated foot, leg, arm or hand Loss ofsight of one or both eyes or a partial loss
of uncorrected vision of more than 75% bilaterally Residual disability from poliomyelitis Cerebral palsy Multiple sclerosis Parkinson's disease Cardiovascular disorders Tuberculosis Mental retardation Psychoneurotic disability Hemophilia Sickle cell anemia Chronic osteomyelitis Ankylosis of major weight bearing joints

Hyperinsulism Muscular dystrophy Total occupational loss of hearing Compressed air sequelae
~upti.Ired intervertebral disc Any permanent condition which, prior to the
subsequent injury, constitutes a 20% impairment of a foot, leg, hand, arm, or of the body as awhole.
To file a claim with the SITF, the employer/insurer must submit:
a Notice of Claim Form to the administrator of
the fund, no later than 78 calendar weeks fol-
lowing the injury or the payment of an amount equivalent to 78 weeks of income or death benefits, but in either case prior to a lump-sum settlement of the employee's claim.
an Employer Knowledge Affidavit Form;
documentation supporting merger between the pre-existing condition and the subsequent injury.
Reimbursement
;,. SITF reimburses"'ndemnity and medical expenses exceeding the deductible levels of 104 weeks indemnity and/or $5000 medical.
No new deductibles
The employer/insurer dOes not face new indemnity and medical deductibles if the employee sustains a new, compensable on-the-job injury after the SITF has accepted an employer/insurer's initial claim. To qualify for the no new deductibles provision the employee must:
return to work for the same employer;
return to work without a break in service;
sustain a new injury that merges with the same prior impairment that resulted in fund acceptance of the prior claim.

SITF Funding
The SITF is not funded through taxpayer contributions. It is funded through: annual assessments against self-insured em-
pioyers and Workers' Compensation insurance carriers.
For More Information
Complete claim guidelines are available from SITF in a publication SITFGuidelines for Claims Procedures and Evaluation. For a free copy, write or call:

The Georgia Subsequent Injury Trust Fund Suite 124 1\vo Northside 75 Atlanta, GA 30318-7784

Telephone number: (404) 352-6060

(:l

TDD number: (404) 352-4881

All contact information concerning claims. and other applicable SITF matters should be directed to the above address.
The Notice of Claim Form and Employer Knowledge Affidavit Form will be provided by the SITF upon request free of charge.

$427.90 3M

SITF and the ADA
How does the Americans With lli!i3blili1:ies Act (ADA) relate to a state second injury fund?
A. The Americans with Disabilities Act gives
new rights to workers with disabilities and highlights the need for a second injury fund.
As more workers with disabilities enter the workemployers look to a state second injury fund
to help them absorb the costs associated with potential subsequent on-the-job injuries.
Effective July 26, 1994, all employers with 15 or more employees are subject to the Americans With Disibilities Act and may not discriminate against persons with disabilities. These employers may not raise questions about the presence of disabilities prior to making a conditional offer of employment.
Employers may not discharge an employee because of a disability; this requires employers to make reasonable accommodations and to return an employee to work.
SITP reimburses employers or their insurers on qualifying workers' compensation claims, regardless of whether the employer is bound by the hiring and retention mandates defined in Title I of the
!Americ,ans with Disabilities Act.

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Subsequent Injury Trust Fund

Aiding workers with disabilities and their eutployers.