Utah Legislature has approved House Bill 11, a bill that would lower the blood alcohol level that triggers a presumption that intoxication was the major contributing cause of a workplace injury. The bill strikes language in Utah's workers' compensation code that currently makes .08 the blood or breath alcohol limit that employers use to dispute a claim for workers' comp; that it is "presumed that the major contributing cause of an employee's injury is the employee's intoxication from alcohol" and "the termination of an employee from reemployment for the employee's use of alcohol may affect the employee's disability compensation for a disability claim." The new bill would replace the .08 blood or breath alcohol limit with .05.

Currently, there is a rebuttable presumption if a physician's medical opinion verifies that the amount of alcohol does not support a finding that the conduct was the major contributing cause of the injury or a contributing cause of the injury. Other conditions may allow for the presumption to be rebutted as well.

The bill has been sent to the state's Legislative Research and General Counsel, following unanimous passage in the state Senate.