Effective September 29, 2017, the statute of limitations for an Ohio workers compensation injury claim or death claim has been reduced to one year, instead of the prior two-year statute of limitations. The amended statute, Ohio Revised Code §4123.84, previously required that employees file their workers compensation application for injury or death claims within two years.

Effective September 29, 2017, employees must file their applications for injury claims or death claims within one year.

The new statute of limitations for workers compensation claims applies to injury claims and death claims. A separate statute of limitations which applies to occupational disease claims, Ohio Revised Code §4123.85, still requires that workers compensation claims for occupational diseases, or death resulting from an occupational disease, be filed within two years.

Ohio employers, both state fund employers and self-insured employers, should keep the new statute of limitations in mind as a potential defense to questionable workers compensation applications filed long after the date of injury.

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Martin J. Boetcher is a lawyer with Harrington, Hoppe & Mitchell, Ltd. His practice areas include employment law and workers compensation law. He can be reached at mboetcher@hhmlaw.com or at (330) 744-1111.