Terms Used In New Hampshire Revised Statutes > Chapter 281-A - Workers' Compensation

• Active duty: means full-time duty as an enlisted member, or as a commissioned or warrant officer, in any branch of the armed forces. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:50
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Airborne disease: means pathogenic microorganisms that may be discharged through respiratory secretions and can cause disease in humans through inhalation or contact with a mucous membrane. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Blood: means human blood, human blood components, and products made from human blood. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Bloodborne disease: means pathogenic microorganisms that are present in human blood and can cause disease in humans. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Board: means the compensation appeals board established in N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Call or volunteer firefighter: means a firefighter who is not regularly employed by a fire department of any city, town or precinct in the state but who answers for duty only to fire alarms and who has been appointed by the fire department with which the firefighter serves. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Commissioner: means the labor commissioner appointed as provided in RSA 273. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contractor: means a person or organization which contracts with another to have work performed of a kind which is a regular and recurrent part of the work of the trade, business, occupation or profession of such person or organization performing the work. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Critical exposure: means contact of an employee's ruptured or broken skin or mucous membranes, including the eyes or mouth, with a person's blood or body fluids. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Date of maximum medical improvement: means the date after which further recovery from, or lasting improvement to, an injury or disease can no longer reasonably be anticipated, based upon reasonable medical probability. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent: means the employee's widow, widower, children, parents, persons in the direct line of ascent or descent, or next of kin, who were wholly or partially dependent, in fact, upon the earnings of the employee for support at the time of the injury. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• direct seller: means a person:
  (A) Engaged in selling or soliciting the sale of consumer products, services or intangibles to any buyer on a buy-sell basis, deposit-commission basis or any similar basis for resale by the buyer or any other person in the home or other than in a permanent retail establishment; or engaged in selling or soliciting the sale of consumer products, services, or intangibles in the home or otherwise than in a permanent retail establishment; and
  (B) Who receives substantially all remuneration as such in a direct relationship to sales or other output including the performance of services, rather than the number of hours worked and whose services are performed pursuant to a written contract with the person for whom the services are performed, which provides that the individual will not be treated as an employee for federal tax purposes. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Domestic: "domestic employee" or "domestic worker" means a person performing domestic services in a private residence of the employer, where the employer is an individual, family, local college club, or local chapter of a college fraternity or sorority and not an agency or other entity engaged in the business of providing domestic workers to the public and the person is not defined as an independent contractor under N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• domestic services: means the performance of such duties as housekeeping, childcare, gardening, handy person work, and serving as a companion or caregiver for children or others who are not physically or mentally infirm. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• employee: includes persons who regularly operate businesses or practice their trades, professions, or occupations, whether individually, or in partnership, or association with other persons, whether or not they hire others as employees. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Employer: with respect to private employment, means:
  (a) A person, partnership, association, corporation, or legal representative of a person, partnership, association or corporation who employs one or more persons whether in one or more trades, businesses, professions or occupations and whether in one or more locations. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Farm: means the operation of farm premises, and includes the planting, cultivating, producing, growing and harvesting of farming commodities thereon; the raising of livestock and poultry thereon; and any work performed as an incident to or in conjunction with such farm operations. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• following: when used by way of reference to any section of these laws, shall mean the section next preceding or following that in which such reference is made, unless some other is expressly designated. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:13
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gainful employment: means employment which reasonably conforms with the employee's age, education, training, temperament and mental and physical capacity to adapt to other forms of labor than that to which the employee was accustomed. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• governing body: shall mean the board of selectmen in a town, the board of aldermen or council in a city or town with a town council, the school board in a school district or the village district commissioners in a village district, or when used to refer to unincorporated towns or unorganized places, or both, the county commissioners. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:48
• governor and council: shall mean the governor with the advice and consent of the council. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:31-a
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Health care facility: means hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities, specialty hospitals and licensed nursing homes including all services and property owned by such. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Health care provider: as used in this chapter includes doctors, chiropractors, rehabilitation providers, health services, health care facilities, and health maintenance organizations. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Health services: means clinically related diagnostic, treatment, or rehabilitative services, as well as preventive services, and includes, without limitation, alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health services. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Homogeneous: means of a similar kind or nature, or possessing similar qualities and attributes. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Injury: or "personal injury" as used in and covered by this chapter means accidental injury or death arising out of and in the course of employment, or any occupational disease or resulting death arising out of and in the course of employment, including disability due to radioactive properties or substances or exposure to ionizing radiation. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Insurance carrier: shall include any corporation licensed to sell insurance in this state from which an employer has obtained a workers' compensation insurance policy in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Intoxication: means intoxication by alcohol or controlled drug as defined in N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• justice: when applied to a magistrate, shall mean a justice of a municipal court, or a justice of the peace having jurisdiction over the subject-matter. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:12
• legislative body: shall mean a town meeting, school district meeting, village district meeting, city or town council, mayor and council, mayor and board of aldermen, or, when used to refer to unincorporated towns or unorganized places, or both, the county convention. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:47
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• month: shall mean a calendar month, and the word "year" a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed; and the word "year" shall be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:8
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Occupational disease: means an injury arising out of and in the course of the employee's employment and due to causes and conditions characteristic of and peculiar to the particular trade, occupation or employment. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Permanent physical or mental impairment: as used in N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• person: may extend and be applied to bodies corporate and politic as well as to individuals. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:9
• petition: when used in connection with the equity jurisdiction of the superior court, and referring to a document filed with the court, shall mean complaint, and "petitioner" shall mean plaintiff. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:51
• petitioner: shall mean plaintiff. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:51
• Post-exposure prophylaxis: means preventive medical treatment started after an identified critical exposure or unprotected exposure in order to prevent infection and the development of disease, in accordance with standards promulgated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States Department of Health and Human Services. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• qualified real estate broker or agent: means a person who is a licensed real estate broker or licensed real estate salesman duly licensed pursuant to N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: shall include lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:21
• real estate appraiser: means a person who is a real estate appraiser and whose remuneration as such is by way of a fee and is directly related to services or other work product rather than to the number of hours worked. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Rehabilitation provider: as used in this chapter includes any person certified as a vocational rehabilitation provider under N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• state: when applied to different parts of the United States, may extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall include said district and territories. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:4
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subcontractor: means a person who contracts with a contractor to perform the work described in paragraph III. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• United States: shall include said district and territories. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:4
• Unprotected exposure: includes instances of direct mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or the commingling of blood or other potentially infectious material of a source individual and an emergency response/public safety worker which is capable of transmitting a bloodborne or airborne disease. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Wages: means , in addition to money payments for services rendered, the reasonable value of board, rent, housing, lodging, fuel or a similar advantage received from the employer and gratuities received in the course of employment from others than the employer; but "wages" shall not include any sum paid by the employer to the employee to cover any special expenses incurred by the employee because of the nature of the employment. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 281-A:2
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.