§ 97-52. Occupational disease made compensable; "accident" defined. - North Carolina Statutes

§97‑52.  Occupational disease made compensable; "accident"defined.

Disablement or death of anemployee resulting from an occupational disease described in G.S. 97‑53shall be treated as the happening of an injury by accident within the meaningof the North Carolina Workers' Compensation Act and the procedure and practiceand compensation and other benefits provided by said act shall apply in allsuch cases except as hereinafter otherwise provided. The word"accident," as used in the Workers' Compensation Act, shall not beconstrued to mean a series of events in employment, of a similar or likenature, occurring regularly, continuously or at frequent intervals in thecourse of such employment, over extended periods of time, whether such eventsmay or may not be attributable to fault of the employer and diseaseattributable to such causes shall be compensable only if culminating in anoccupational disease mentioned in and compensable under this Article: Provided,however, no compensation shall be payable for asbestosis and/or silicosis ashereinafter defined if the employee, at the time of entering into the employment of the employer by whom compensation would otherwise be payable,falsely represented himself in writing as not having previously been disabled orlaid off because of asbestosis or silicosis. (1935, c. 123; 1979, c. 714,s. 2.)