Senate Bill 171 Significantly Amends Eligibility Requirements for Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund Benefits
![]()
The Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (SIBTF) provides additional permanent disability compensation to employees whose combined pre-existing and subsequent industrial disabilities equal 70 percent or more. The SIBTF serves the dual purpose of protecting severely disabled workers from inadequate compensation, and encouraging employers to hire workers with pre-existing disabilities. The latter ensures that employer liability is limited to the disability caused by the most recent industrial injury. To qualify for SIBTF benefits under former LC 4751, an employee was required to demonstrate a pre-existing permanent partial disability that was "labor disabling" before the subsequent industrial injury — a standard that, following Ferguson v. IAC (1958) 23 CCC 108, was interpreted broadly to include conditions that were ratable even if they did not result in an actual loss of earnings or interfere with the employee's specific job duties.