As of July 7, 2017, employers have much more leeway to conduct workplace drug testing in WV for illegal drugs--but only if employers also institute new procedural safeguards. That is because on April 8, 2017 the House of Delegates passed the West Virginia Safer Workplaces Act.

Employers and insurers should take note of a West Virginia Supreme Court decision involving permanent total disability thresholds. In March 2017, the Court issued its decision in Cooper v. Appalachian Power Company, determining that the Rule 20 spine impairment tables must be used when calculating whole body medical impairment ratings in WV.

On February 14, 2017, State Senators Blair and Azinger introduced Senate Bill 287 to create a new Code section dealing with Medical Monitoring.  It is similar to another Bill, introduced by Senators Trump and Weld that I previously discussed here, SB 236.  Both Bills propose that plaintiffs awarded medical monitoring relief (future medical surveillance or screening) will not receive money for medical monitoring until the actual screening procedures have occurred and been completed.  

In the 2006 Regular Legislative Session, the West Virginia (WV) Legislature enacted the WV Preventive Care Pilot Program, Chapter 16, Article 2J of the West Virginia Code. The purpose of the pilot program was to test the feasibility of patients obtaining direct primary and preventative care from healthcare providers for a pre-paid retainer outside of the traditional health insurance model. (Direct primary care or "DPC" is one model of a now popular term, "concierge medicine.”) The Preventive Care Pilot Program by enactment expired June 30, 2016, although practitioners who were participating in the Pilot Program were permitted to continue beyond the expiration date. Its legacy is the WV Direct Primary Care Practice Act.

In 2017, the West Virginia (WV) Legislature proposed legislation eliminating the requirement for wage payment bonds for some employers. Instead, the Legislature passed a weakened WV Senate Bill 224, amending the Wage Payment and Collection Act to keep the wage bond requirement but shortening the period such bonds are required.