(a) The Commissioner shall, in consultation with the Department of Labor, promulgate rules establishing an injured offender compensation program for offenders or their dependents for injuries suffered while under supervision by the Department and arising out of and in the course of work, industry, or an employment program, at a correctional facility, or any community service or public works activity or vocational training directed by the Department of Corrections. The rules shall establish the compensation, medical and vocational benefits to which an injured offender may be entitled as well as procedures for resolving disputes. To the extent practicable and consistent with the requirements of the Department, compensation, medical and vocational benefits shall be comparable to what a similarly injured employee would receive under 21 V.S.A. chapter 9.

(b) The rights and remedies provided by this section and the rules adopted under authority of this section to an offender on account of a personal injury for which he or she is entitled to compensation under this section shall exclude all other rights and remedies of the offender, the offender's personal representation, dependents or next of kin, at common law, or otherwise on account of such injury.

(c) For purposes of this section, the Department of Corrections shall be the sole entity responsible for providing any compensation owed to an injured offender, without regard to the place of injury, and no claim for workers' compensation or other common law action may be brought against the industry, employment program, government or community service entity, or vocational training provider either supervising the offender or receiving the benefit of the offender's services.

(d) In no case shall compensation be made under subsection (a) of this section to any offender injured while participating in a work release program pursuant to section 753 of this title.

(e) Any compensation which is fixed in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the Ccommissioner may be paid either in periodic installments or in lump sum. The compensation may be drawn from the revolving fund established by section 752 of this title, from any general fund maintained by the Department, or from any approved source.

(f) A claimant may seek review of the Department's decision relative to an award of compensation by petitioning a Superior Court under Rule 74 of the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure. (Added 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 20; amended 1993, No. 54, § 3; 1997, No. 148 (Adj. Sess.), § 69, eff. April 29, 1998; 2005, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 5, 2006.)