WSIA

It was a short but momentous legislative session with a couple major changes in the law that will reverberate. Here's a run-down of what happened in issues of concern to the workers' compensation and safety community.

Just in time for Halloween, Division II of the state Court of Appeals in Tacoma issued an order this week publishing a case first decided in August that has sent a scare throughout the self-insured employer community.

Will Weaver go down as a one-off where the court willingly looked beyond things that may be "true in theory" in order to give a sympathetic claimant another shot at a pension, or will it fundamentally re-order workers' compensation practice, incentivizing scores of litigants to refile previously litigated claims, arguing they lacked sufficient economic motivation to pursue their appeal when it was "just" for time loss, or "just" for treatment (or so on), but now is for a much more valuable benefit like a pension?

Nearly 200 WSIA members, colleagues, and folks from all facets of the workers' comp community in Washington turned out in force at Safeco Field last night for our "Field of Dreams II" gala to benefit Kids' Chance of Washington

Earlier this week, the Department of Labor & Industries published for public comment a series of proposed administrative rules that, taken together, form the first major attempt to modernize self-insurance regulations in decades. 

It's another case of sympathetic facts + liberal construction equals unpredictable law and unfavorable precedent.

Workers' compensation disability payments will increase five percent for most workers effective July 1st, based on calculations released this week by the Employment Security Department

https://esd.wa.gov/newsroom/washingtons-average-wage-nears-61900-in-2017

Washington and Florida legislatures both passed PTSD bills for first responders and both states’ governors are considering whether to sign them. Both have interesting similarities and differences. Perhaps not surprisingly, Washington’s version goes much, much further.