SECTION 112.402. Determination of Equivalent Benefits for Professional Athletes

(a) Medical care available to a professional athlete subject to the Texas Workers' Compensation Act (the Act), Texas Labor Code, §406.095, is equal to or greater than medical benefits under the Act if:

(1) the athlete is entitled to all health care reasonably required by the nature of the work-related injury as and when needed, including all health care that:

(A) cures or relieves the effects naturally resulting from the work-related injury;

(B) promotes recovery; or

(C) enhances the ability of the employee to return to or retain employment; and

(2) the employer's liability for health care is not limited or terminated in any way by the contract or collective bargaining agreement.

(b) When the athlete is not eligible for lifetime income benefits or when the athlete's legal beneficiaries are not eligible for death benefits under the Act, weekly benefits available to a professional athlete subject to the Act, §406.095, are equal to or greater than the income benefits provided under the Act if the total amount of the payments provided for in the contract or collective bargaining agreement is equal to or greater than the maximum weekly benefit available under the Act multiplied by 104.

(c) When the athlete is entitled to lifetime income benefits under the Act, weekly benefits available to a professional athlete subject to the Act, §406.095, are equal to or greater than the income benefits provided under the Act if equal to or greater than the maximum weekly benefit available under the Act.

(d) When the athlete's legal beneficiaries are entitled to death benefits under the Act, weekly benefits available to the legal beneficiaries of a professional athlete subject to the Act, §406.095, are equal to or greater than the death benefits provided under the Act if equal to or greater than the maximum weekly benefit available under the Act.

Source Note: The provisions of this §112.402 adopted to be effective October 1, 1992, 17 TexReg 6362; amended to be effective June 9, 2005, 30 TexReg 3231