Section 2301 - DefinitionsAs used in this chapter:
(1) "Board" means the Industrial Accident Board.(2) "Child" includes stepchildren and adopted children and children to whom the deceased stood in loco parentis if members of the decedent's household at the time of the decedent's death, and includes posthumous children but not married children.(3) "Compensable ionizing radiation injury" means any harmful change in the human organism including damage to or loss of a prosthetic appliance arising out of and in the course of employment and caused by exposure to ionizing radiation which renders the injured party disabled within the meaning of §§ 2324 and 2325 of this title and/or permanently injured within the meaning of § 2326 of this title.(4) "Compensable occupational diseases" includes all occupational diseases arising out of and in the course of employment only when the exposure stated in connection therewith has occurred during employment. (5) "Compensation" wherever the context requires it includes surgical, medical and hospital services, medicines and supplies and funeral benefits provided for in this chapter. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require a worker who in good faith relies on or is treated by prayer or spiritual means by a duly accredited practitioner of a well-known church to undergo any medical or surgical treatment, nor shall such worker or the worker's dependents be deprived of any compensation payments to which the worker would have been entitled if medical or surgical treatment were employed. (6) "Death" when mentioned as a cause for compensation under this chapter means death resulting from violence to the physical structure of the body and its resultant effect when reasonably treated and occurring within 285 weeks after the accident, and compensable occupational diseases, as defined in this section, arising out of and in the course of the employment, provided that if death shall occur beyond 285 weeks after the accident, the Board may consider such death as a cause for compensation when the Board has a medical history on the case resulting from the payment of compensation for the injury which is alleged to have caused the death.(7) "Deductible clause" shall mean a clause in an agreement between an employer and an insurer that the employer shall be liable for a specified initial amount, per occurrence or per employee, of each claim, loss or liability; but that the insurer shall be liable for any excess liability up to and including the maximum amount permitted by law.(8) "Department" means the Department of Labor.(9) "Dependent" includes all persons other than the injured employee who are entitled to compensation under the elective schedule set forth in this chapter, and wherever the context requires it, includes the personal representatives and the surviving spouse of the deceased, and guardians of infants or trustees for incompetent persons.(10) "Employee" means every person in service of any corporation (private, public, municipal or quasi-public), association, firm or person, excepting those employees excluded by this subchapter, under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, or performing services for a valuable consideration, excluding spouse and minor children of a farm employer unless the spouse or minor child is a bona fide employee of a farm employer and is named in an endorsement to the farm employer's contract of insurance, and excluding any person whose employment is casual and not in the regular course of the trade, business, profession or occupation of his employer, and not including persons to whom articles or materials are furnished or repaired, or adopted for sale in the worker's own home, or on the premises not under the control or management of the employer. "Casual employment," as used in this subdivision, means employment for not over 2 weeks or a total salary during the employment not to exceed $100 and, subject to the above, repairs and maintenance of employer's regular business shall not be construed as casual employment; except, however, that everyone assigned to work under §§ 901-905 of Title 31 is specifically designated an employee, notwithstanding any provisions of this section to the contrary. Inmates in the custody of the Department of Correction or inmates on work release who participate in the Prison Industries Program or other programs sponsored for inmates by the Department of Correction pursuant to Chapter 65 of Title 11 or other applicable Delaware law shall not be considered employees of the State for purposes of this title or otherwise be eligible for workers' compensation benefits unless said inmate is employed by an employer other than the State or a political subdivision thereof. Any person providing services as a sports official at a sports event in which the players are not compensated shall not be considered employees under this title. For purposes of this title "sports officials" includes an umpire, referee, judge, scorekeeper, timekeeper, organizer, or other person who is a neutral participant in a sports event. This exclusion does not apply to workers' compensation claims against schools, associations of schools or other organizations sponsoring a sports contest where the claimant is a sports official who is a regular employee of such school, association of schools, or other organization sponsoring the sports contest.(11) "Employer" includes all those who employ others unless they are excluded from the application of this chapter by any provision of this subchapter, and if the employer is insured, the term shall include the insurer as far as practicable; employer shall also include the governing body for which employable relief recipients are assigned work under §§ 901-905 of Title 31.(12) "Executive officers" means the president, any vice-president, secretary, treasurer or any other executive officer elected and empowered by the board of directors in accordance with the charter and the regularly adopted bylaws of the corporation.(13) "Health care provider" shall refer to any health care provider who is licensed by the State of Delaware to provide health care services, irrespective of whether the particular services provided under the Delaware workers' compensation system are rendered within or outside the State of Delaware.(14) "Hearing officer" means a hearing officer pursuant to § 2301B of this title.(15) "Immediate family" means a parent, spouse, child or sibling of a sole proprietor or partner.(16) "Injury" and "personal injury" mean violence to the physical structure of the body, such disease or infection as naturally results directly therefrom when reasonably treated and compensable occupational diseases and compensable ionizing radiation injuries arising out of and in the course of employment.(17) "Insurance carrier" means any insurance corporation, mutual association or company or interinsurance exchange which insures employers against liability under this chapter or against liability at common law for accidental injuries to employees.(18) "Ionizing radiation" means any particulate or electromagnetic radiation capable of producing ions directly or indirectly in its passage through matter.(19) "Personal injury sustained by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment": a. Shall not cover an employee except while the employee is engaged in, on or about the premises where the employee's services are being performed, which are occupied by, or under the control of, the employer (the employee's presence being required by the nature of the employee's employment), or while the employee is engaged elsewhere in or about the employer's business where the employee's services require the employee's presence as a part of such service at the time of the injury, provided, however, that participation in an approved Travelink Traffic Mitigation Act program, created pursuant to subchapter IV of Chapter 20 of Title 30, shall not be construed as meeting either exception contained in this subsection; andb. Shall not include any injury caused by the wilful act of another employee directed against the employee by reasons personal to such employee and not directed against the employee as an employee or because of the employee's employment.c. Shall, however, cover any personal injury to an off-duty employee of the State who demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence that the injury was the result of an intentional act by a person associated with the employee in that employee's official capacity who committed the act because of that association. It is an affirmative defense in the case of an off-duty injury that the injured employee initiated the incident that resulted in the injury.(20) "Services" and "supplies" mean all treatments and apparatus, including glasses, artificial members, shoes and other corrective appliances made necessary by reason of the injuries sustained.(21) "Wilful self-exposure to occupational diseases" includes: a. Failure or omission to observe such rules and regulations as may be promulgated and posted in the plant by the employer tending to the prevention of occupational diseases; andb. Failure or omission to truthfully state to the best of the employee's knowledge, in answer to inquiry made by the employer, the location, duration and nature of previous employment of the employee in which the employee was exposed to any occupational diseases.Amended by Laws 2023, ch. 310,s 1, eff. 7/17/2024.Amended by Laws 2015 , ch. 124, s 1, eff. 7/27/2015.Code 1915, §§ 3193k, 3193w, 3193pp, 3193qq, 3193rr, 3193tt, 3193yy, 3193bbb, 3193ddd, 3193eee, 3193fff; 29 Del. Laws, c. 233; 30 Del. Laws, c. 203, §§ 1, 4, 9; 32 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 4; 33 Del. Laws, c. 206, §§ 1, 2; 35 Del. Laws, c. 193, §§ 1, 2; 37 Del. Laws, c. 44, § 1; Code 1935, §§ 6071, 6081, 6112-6116; 41 Del. Laws, c. 241, § 1; 42 Del. Laws, c. 185, § 1; 43 Del. Laws, c. 269, § 9; 46 Del. Laws, c. 50; 47 Del. Laws, c. 270; 19 Del. C. 1953, § 2301; 49 Del. Laws, c. 429, § 3; 50 Del. Laws, c. 339, § 1; 52 Del. Laws, c. 49, §§ 1, 2; 52 Del. Laws, c. 244, § 1; 55 Del. Laws, c. 83, § 1; 59 Del. Laws, c. 454, § 1; 63 Del. Laws, c. 250, §§1, 2; 67 Del. Laws, c. 160, §5; 69 Del. Laws, c. 196, §1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 172, §§ 3 - 5; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; 71 Del. Laws, c. 84, §§ 4, 5; 72 Del. Laws, c. 73, § 1; 72 Del. Laws, c. 185, § 1; 75 Del. Laws, c. 272, § 1.;