Section 60. Adoption and Amendment of Rules of the Board; Assignment of Identification Numbers for Claimants; Form of Documents Submitted to Board; Enforcement Powers  


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  •    (a) The rules of the Board are subject to amendment at any time. The Board may adopt additional rules whenever deemed necessary. However, except in extraordinary circumstances, rule changes will only be considered and adopted annually, to be effective on July 1 of each year.

    (b) Prior to the adoption, amendment, or repeal of any rule, other than interpretive rules or general statements of policy, the Board shall:

       (i) Provide a copy of the proposed rule to the Chairperson of the Board's Advisory Council.

       (ii) Provide a copy of the proposed rule to the Chairman of the Senate Industry and Labor Committee and the Chairman of the House Industrial Relations Committee. At the request of the Chairman of the Senate Industry and Labor Committee or the Chairman of the House Industrial Relations Committee, the Board shall hold a hearing on the proposed changes.

    (c) Upon receipt of notice of a work-related injury, the Board shall assign a claim number. All subsequently filed forms, reports, or any other correspondence or documents related to or concerning such work-related injury shall have affixed thereto the assigned claim number, date of injury, and claimant's name. Failure to include this information with the filing may result in the rejection of the filing with the Board.

    (d) Written instructions on all workers' compensation forms are deemed to be included in these rules.

    (e) The Board shall have the power to issue writs of fieri facias in order to collect fines imposed by any member of the Board or any Administrative Law Judge against any person. Such writs may be enforced in the same manner as a similar writ issued by a superior court.

    (f) Pleadings, forms, documents, or other filings shall be filed with the Board electronically through ICMS, unless otherwise authorized in these Rules. However, in the event of an outage preventing an electronic submission and the time for filing is at issue, the document may be filed in paper or by facsimile with any Board office. Any filing by facsimile transmission must be clearly labeled with the name of the claimant, claim number, and Board division or employee to whom the facsimile transmission is directed. The certificate of service, showing concurrent service upon the opposing party electronically or by facsimile transmission shall be a part of any electronic or facsimile transmission. Failure to include a certificate of service shall invalidate the filing. All facsimile transmissions must be identical to the originals and must be legible. The Board, within its discretion, may transmit documents by facsimile or electronic transmission.

    (g) (1) Pursuant to Code Section 10-12-2 et seq., when a signature is required for any electronic filing with the Board, the party or attorney shall type his or her name in the appropriate fields on the document or Board form submitted for filing. Submission of a filing in this manner shall constitute evidence of legal signature by those individuals whose names appear on the filing.

       (2) Any party or attorney challenging the authenticity of an electronically filed document or electronic signature on that filing must file an objection to the document within 15 days of receiving the notice of the electronic filing. The burden shall be on the party challenging the authenticity of the signature.

    (h) In order to create a workers' compensation ICMS file at the Board, a Form WC-1 or Form WC-14 shall be filed with the Board. Any document or form filed with the Board, when either a Form WC-1 or Form WC-14 has not been previously filed, shall be rejected by the Board.

    (i) Only the original of any form, document, or other correspondence shall be filed with the Board. Duplicate originals shall not be filed with the Board. Where providing a courtesy copy to an Administrative Law Judge or the Board, that document shall be identified clearly and prominently as a courtesy copy.

    (j) Service upon a party or attorney of any form, document, or other correspondence shall be by electronic mail. Whenever electronic mail is not available, service shall be by U.S. Mail.