§ 65-01-11 — Burden of proof in compensation matters - Death certificate

North Dakota § 65-01-11

• Jurisdiction: North Dakota
• Title 65: Workforce Safety and Insurance
• Ch. 65-01: General Provisions

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If the organization or an employer claims an employee is not entitled to the benefits of the
North Dakota workforce safety and insurance law because the employee's injury was caused by
the employee's willful intention to cause self-injury, or to injure another, or by reason of the
voluntary impairment caused by use of alcohol, recreational marijuana use, or illegal use of a
controlled substance by the employee, the burden of proving the exemption or forfeiture is on
the organization or on the person alleging the same; however, an alcohol concentration level at
or above the limit set by the United States secretary of transportation in the Code of Federal
Regulations in effect on August 1, 2011, or a level of an illegally used controlled substance or
recreational marijuana sufficient to cause impairment found by a test conducted by a physician,
qualified technician, chemist, or registered nurse at or above the cutoff level in the Code of
Federal Regulations in effect on August 1, 2011, creates a rebuttable presumption the injury
was due to impairment caused by the use of alcohol, recreational marijuana use, or the illegal
use of a controlled substance. An employer who has a mandatory drug alcohol testing policy for
work accidents, or an employer or a health care provider who has reasonable grounds to
suspect an employee's alleged work injury was caused by the employee's voluntary impairment
caused by use of alcohol, recreational marijuana use, or illegal use of a controlled substance
may request the employee undergo testing to determine if the employee had alcohol, marijuana,
or the controlled substance in the employee's system at levels greater than the limit set by the
United States department of transportation at the time of the injury. If an employee refuses to
submit to a reasonable request to undergo a test to determine if the employee was impaired or if
an employee refuses to submit to a test for drugs or alcohol after a work accident as mandated

by company policy, the employee forfeits all entitlement to workforce safety and insurance
benefits arising out of that injury. Any claimant against the fund, however, has the burden of
proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the claimant is entitled to benefits. If a claim for
death benefits is filed, the official death certificate must be considered as evidence of death and
may not be used to establish the cause of death.