Request By:
Billy G. Wellman
Major General, KyNg
The Adjutant General
Department of Military Affairs
Boone Center
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Greg Holmes, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your letter in which you request the opinion of this office concerning several related questions pertaining to the scope of Workers Compensation coverage. Specifically, you ask whether and to what extent Disaster and Emergency Services organizations and rescue squads are covered under the Kentucky Workers Compensation program. Initially, we refer you to KRS 342.640 which defines the general scope of Workers Compensation coverage for all employees. KRS 342.640 provides in pertinent part:
"The following shall constitute employes subject to the provisions of this chapter, except as exempted under KRS 342.650:
(3) Every person in the service of the state or of any political subdivision or agency thereof, or of any county, city of any class, school district, drainage district, tax district, public or quasi-public corporation or other political entity, under any contract of hire, express or implied, and every official or officer thereof, whether elected or appointed, while performing his official duties . . . .
Every person who is a regularly enrolled volunteer member or trainee of the civil defense corps of this state as established under KRS Chapter 39, shall be deemed for the purposes of this chapter, to be in the employment of this state . . . ."
It is apparent from the above-quoted portions of KRS 342.640(3) and from the Workers Compensation statute as a whole that coverage afforded workers under the Kentucky Workers Compensation program is intended to be an umbrella which covers a broad range of employees. Your letter poses the questions of who determines which employees will be covered and under what circumstances employees of the Disaster and Emergency Services, Department of Military Affairs, will be covered under the Kentucky Workers Compensation program. You raise the question of whether coverage is afforded to Disaster and Emergency Services employees who, for example, assist local police in emergency situations such as the apprehension of criminals. Because of the provisions of KRS 342.640(3) referred to above and because of the manifest intention of the Legislature that the terms covering the scope of coverage of the Workers Compensation statute be construed broadly, it is the opinion of this office that Disaster and Emergency Service employees are covered by the Kentucky Workers Compensation program at all times while acting under the direction of the Disaster and Emergency Services chain of command. However, if, for example, one city or county, not under direct state supervision furnishes aid to another city or county and an employee of the furnishing unit of government is injured, the receiving unit of government would be liable for the worker's compensation under KRS 39.415, 39.417, and 39.418.