The right to compensation under this title is barred unless a claim is filed with the commission within two years after an accident, or if death resulted from the accident, within two years of the date of death. However, for occupational disease claims the two-year period does not begin to run until the employee concerned has been diagnosed definitively as having an occupational disease and has been notified of the diagnosis. For the death or injury of a member of the South Carolina National Guard, as provided for in Section 42-7-67, the time for filing a claim is two years after the accident or one year after the federal claim is finalized, whichever is later. The filing required by this section may be made by registered mail, and the service within the time periods set forth in this section constitutes timely filing. For a "repetitive trauma injury" as defined in Section 42-1-172, the right to compensation is barred unless a claim is filed with the commission within two years after the employee knew or should have known that his injury is compensable but no more than seven years after the last date of injurious exposure. This section applies regardless of whether the employee was aware that his repetitive trauma injury was the result of his employment.
S.C. Code Ann. § 42-15-40
Time for filing claim; filing by registered mail
Known as the The South Carolina Workers' Compensation Law
The act spans §§ 42–42 (216 sections).
Applied in 27 court decisions — leading case Muir v. C.R. Bard, Inc. (1999)
Most recently applied in Tucker v. S.C. Dep't of Transp. (July 2019)
1962 Code SECTION 72-303; 1952 Code SECTION 72-303; 1942 Code SECTION 7035-27; 1936 (39) 1231; 1955 (49) 319; 1974 (58) 2265; 1978 Act No. 522 SECTION 6; 1979 Act No. 194 Part I…
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Carolina Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Carolina statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.