Unemployment Insurance. An unemployed individual (claimant) is eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits (UI benefits) if the individual: (1) worked at least 680 hours in the base year; (2) was separated from employment through no fault of the claimant's or quit work for good cause; and (3) is able to work, available to work, and is actively searching for suitable work. The Employment Security Department (ESD) administers Washington State's unemployment insurance program.
Benefits paid are charged to the experience-rating of base year employers on a pro rata basis according to the amount of wages paid to the claimant by the employer in the claimant's base year compared to the wages paid by all employers. Some benefits, such as those paid for certain good cause quits, are charged only to the separating employer, or are not charged to any employer.
Workers' Compensation. Under the state's industrial insurance laws, a worker who, in the course of employment, is injured or suffers disability from an occupational disease is entitled to certain benefits. To prove an occupational disease, the worker must show that the disease arose naturally and proximately out of employment. For certain occupations, such as firefighters, there is a presumption that certain medical conditions are occupational diseases.
No worker will receive compensation for or during the day on which injury was received, or the three days following the same, unless their disability continues for a period of 14 consecutive calendar days from the date of injury.
The bill as referred to committee not considered.
Unemployment Insurance. After July 4, 2021, and during the weeks of a public health emergency (PHE), an unemployed individual, who worked at a health care facility and was directly involved in the delivery of health services, and was terminated or left from work due to entering quarantine, because of exposure to or contracting the disease that is the subject of the declaration of the PHE, is eligible for UI benefits. It is presumed that the worker was exposed to the disease at the health care facility. This eligibility does not eliminate any employment rights an employee may have for any other violation of the laws.
During the weeks of a PHE, an unemployed individual may also meet the requirements of being able to work, available to work, and is actively searching for suitable work, if unemployed health care worker, who was terminated or left work to quarantine, is able to perform, available to perform, and actively seeking suitable work which will commence after quarantine or which can be performed for an employer from the individual's home.
The benefits paid to a health care worker who was terminated due to quarantine are only charged to the experience rating of the separating employer. The benefits paid to a health care worker who left to quarantine are not charged to contribution paying employers.
Misconduct for unemployment insurance eligibility does not include entering quarantine because of exposure to or contracting the disease that is the subject of the declaration of the PHE.
Workers' Compensation. For health care employees who are covered under industrial insurance, there exists a prima facie presumption that any infectious or contagious diseases which are the subject of a PHE are occupational diseases during a PHE. There is a presumption that the health care employee contracted or was exposed to the disease at the health care facility. The health care employee must provide verification to the Department of Labor and Industries and the self-insured employer that the employee has contracted or is in quarantine after exposure to the infectious or contagious disease.
This presumption of occupational disease may be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence that:
The period of time disability must continue to receive compensation for the first three days after the injury is reduced to 10 consecutive days from 14 consecutive calendar days.
The costs of the workers' compensation payment are paid from the accident fund.
Definitions. Health care facility means a facility that provides health care services directly to patients, including but not limited to, a hospital, clinic, health care provider's office, health maintenance organization, diagnostic or treatment center, neuropsychiatric or mental health facility, hospice, or nursing home.
Public health emergency means a declaration or order that covers the jurisdiction where the unemployed individual was working on the date the individual became unemployed concerning any dangerous, contagious, or infectious diseases, including a pandemic, and is issued by the President of the United States, has declared a national or regional emergency, or the Governor declared a state of emergency. For unemployment purposes, it also includes a state of emergency declared by the Governor or state executive of another state where the unemployed individual was working at the time of the declaration.