WSIA

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?

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

For workers' compensation and safety, the shift in legislative power will put an increased focus toward compromise on bills that are primarily defensive for employers. It will not be an era where systemic reform proposals of the past years, from occupational disease to structured settlements to wage simplification and benefit accuracy, will receive much attention or traction.

Earlier this week, the Department of Labor & Industries filed the formal paperwork to once again consider a reduction in the discount rate for pension reserves in the Washington workers' compensation system.

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Arising from our September meeting, we discussed with the Department a few things that would be interesting to the self-insured claims community as a whole