The WSIA Weekly, 6.24.16
Department
announces COLA increases for July 1
The Department
of Labor & Industries earlier today released the COLA information for the
various workers’ compensation disability benefits, effective July 1. The
state’s average annual wage as calculated by the Employment Security Department
rose slightly year-over-year to $56,273, affecting the various benefits that
are calculated based upon the state’s average annual or monthly wage, including
the July 1st cost of living adjustment for time loss claimants and pensioners.
A copy of the new benefits schedule for self-insured employers is available here.
Medical EDI
requirements now available
The Department also
announced this week that the technical requirements for self-insured employers
to report to medical bill component of the new Self-Insurance Risk Analysis
System (SIRAS) are now available for review at https://walniedi.info.
Click on the Implementation Guide link in the left column, and related links,
for the info. Medical bill data submission will begin testing later this year
with voluntary employer reporting in early 2017 and mandatory employer
reporting expected to begin July, 2017.The medical EDI is an important
component of WSIA’s mutual efforts with L&I to improve data collection, to
allow for better benchmarking and comparisons of performance between
self-insurance, the state fund and other states’ programs.
Slides
from WCAC meeting available
Last Friday, the state’s
Workers’ Compensation Advisory Committee held its quarterly update meeting at
Labor & Industries’ Tukwila office. We’ve posted a
copy of the meeting materials online for anyone interested in following the
work of the WCAC. The self-insured community is represented on the WCAC by WSIA
board president Sheri Sundstrom of Hoffman Construction.
SI
Colloquium Next Week
Registration has
unfortunately closed for next week’s WSIA/L&I colloquium on occupational
health best practices, but for those who have registered, we look forward to
seeing you on Wednesday morning, June 29th at the Glaser Auditorium
inside Swedish Medical Center on First Hill in Seattle. Parking is available in
the center’s garage, as well as in nearby structures. View the agenda and other
event information here.
Invitation
out for stakeholder discussion on new federal overtime rule
The Department
of Labor & Industries is inviting interested parties to attend a meeting on
Thursday, June 30 at 2pm at the L&I headquarters in Tumwater to discuss the
Department’s implementation of the new US Department of Labor
rule addressing overtime pay thresholds and requirements. This important
human resources/wage and hour issue could have a crossover impact on benefit
calculations in workers’ compensation. It is possible to participate in the
meeting by telephone. Interested individuals should let the Department know
they plan to attend, or obtain the call-in information, by contacting L&I’s
Allison Drake at drad235@lni.wa.gov.
Lots of new
postings on WSIA Employment Exchange
Do you check
back in frequently to WSIA’s job board? We’ve got a handful of new postings up.
Our job board is a great way to advertise and view open positions of interest
to the workers’ comp and safety/accident prevention community. You can access
the job board by visiting our homepage at www.wsiassn.org
and scrolling about halfway down.