The applicable statute of limitations (SOL) depends on the law in effect at the date of injury. Generally, there are two types of statutes: The two-year SOL applies to the initial claim, and a longer SOL (six or ten years depending on the date of injury and frequently defined as a statute of repose) applies to subsequent claims for benefits (39-A M.R.S.A. §306).
A. Two-Year Statute of Limitations
The two-year initial SOL applies to all dates of injury. No petition for award of compensation may be brought later than two years after the date of injury or the date the employer files a First Report of Injury, whichever is later. If no First Report was required, as in no lost time cases or claims where no notice of an injury was given, then the two years runs from the date of injury.
The following periods of time do not count toward the two years:
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Time before the employee's majority (age 18);
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Time during which the employee is unable to file a petition as a result of physical or mental incapacity;
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Time during which benefits are being paid, either with or without prejudice; and
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Time after the employer has "actual knowledge" of the injury and before a First Report of Injury is required to be filed (except as to injuries before September 23, 1983).
The two-year SOL is also extended if the employee is mistaken about whether he or she has a work-related injury, but the petition must be filed within a "reasonable time" as soon as the employee is no longer mistaken (39-A M.R.S.A. §306).
A petition under the Longshore & Harbor Workers' Compensation Act is not equivalent to a petition under the Maine Act, so the two-year period runs even as the Longshore claim is being determined.
B. Injuries Before 10/17/91 - Ten-Year SOL
No petition for benefits of any kind may be filed more than ten years after the "date of the latest payment made under this Act" (39 M.R.S.A. §95).
C. Injuries on or After 10/17/91 - Six-Year SOL
The ten-year SOL was repealed and replaced by a six-year SOL in 1991. No petition of any kind may be filed more than six years following the date of the latest payment made under the Act (39 M.R.S.A. §95). The six-year SOL also applies for injuries on and after 01/01/93 (39-A M.R.S.A. §306).
D. Interplay Of Two-Year and Six-Year SOL's
The Maine Legislature amended the statute of limitations in order to clarify the interplay between the two-year SOL and the six-year SOL (39-A M.R.S.A. §306). The relevant changes can be summarized as follows:
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If no payments or provision of services of any kind are made within the first two years after the date of injury or the date the employer files a First Report of Injury, the claim is clearly barred by the two-year SOL;
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If the employer or insurer pays benefits without prejudice within the two- year period following the date of injury or the filing of the First Report of Injury, the employee has six years from the most recent payment in which to file a petition.
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If the employee establishes a work-related injury by Board decree, mediation report or agreement without the payment of benefits, the employee has six years from the date of the decree, report or agreement in which to file a petition.
E. Successive Injuries Involving Multiple Carriers
In cases where two or more carriers have insured several dates of injury, it pays to establish good and frank communications with the employer. Be aware that if the employer is on notice of ongoing treatment for two dates of injury, payments related to one injury may extend the statute of limitations related to the other injury. In order for this to occur, the employee "need only show that the employer or even a different carrier had notice that payments were necessitated in part by the [other] injury, not that the [other] insurer received notice of the payments." Thus, if a doctor is treating an employee for two injuries covered by two different insurers, but billing only one carrier, the other carrier may lose the benefit of the continuing statute of limitations if the employer is aware of the situation. Only if the employer and insurer are both unaware that the treatment is claimed to be for both injuries will the non-paying carrier receive the full benefit of the continuing statutory period.
F. Protective Decrees
In some cases when the employee is not owed any benefits, counsel will file a Petition for Award or ask for a "protective decree" or seek "protection of the Act" to establish that the injury was work-related. This may be important to an employee concerned about whether she will, in the future, be barred by the two-year SOL from petitioning to establish the compensability of the injury. While there is nothing in the Act that requires an employer to assent to such an action, the threat of losing a claim under the two-year SOL may persuade a hearing officer to agree to grant the petition even though no benefits are immediately at stake. Furthermore, the Law Court has ruled that an employee may seek protection of the Act even when all benefits sought are being paid, albeit without prejudice. Further, if you do not afford the protection of the Act for your injury, you may be precluded from seeking apportionment relief against earlier dates of injury.
