AN ACT
Relating to payment of job modification or accommodation costs for injured
workers; and amending RCW 51.32.095.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE
OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
51.32.095 and 1988 c 161 s 9 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
One of the primary purposes of this title is to enable the injured worker to
become employable at gainful employment. To this end, the department or
self-insurers shall utilize the services of individuals and organizations,
public or private, whose experience, training, and interests in vocational
rehabilitation and retraining qualify them to lend expert assistance to the
supervisor of industrial insurance in such programs of vocational
rehabilitation as may be reasonable to make the worker employable consistent
with his or her physical and mental status. Where, after evaluation and recommendation
by such individuals or organizations and prior to final evaluation of the
worker's permanent disability and in the sole opinion of the supervisor or
supervisor's designee, whether or not medical treatment has been concluded,
vocational rehabilitation is both necessary and likely to enable the injured
worker to become employable at gainful employment, the supervisor or
supervisor's designee may, in his or her sole discretion, pay or, if the
employer is a self-insurer, direct the self-insurer to pay the cost as provided
in subsection (3) of this section.
(2)
When in the sole discretion of the supervisor or the supervisor's designee
vocational rehabilitation is both necessary and likely to make the worker
employable at gainful employment, then the following order of priorities shall
be used:
(a)
Return to the previous job with the same employer;
(b)
Modification of the previous job with the same employer including transitional
return to work;
(c) A
new job with the same employer in keeping with any limitations or restrictions;
(d)
Modification of a new job with the same employer including transitional return
to work;
(e)
Modification of the previous job with a new employer;
(f) A
new job with a new employer or self-employment based upon transferable skills;
(g)
Modification of a new job with a new employer;
(h) A
new job with a new employer or self-employment involving on-the-job training;
(i)
Short-term retraining and job placement.
(3)
Costs for vocational rehabilitation benefits allowed by the supervisor or
supervisor's designee under subsection (1) of this section may include the cost
of books, tuition, fees, supplies, equipment, transportation, child or
dependent care, and other necessary expenses for any such worker in an amount
not to exceed three thousand dollars in any fifty-two week period, and the cost
of continuing the temporary total disability compensation under RCW 51.32.090
while the worker is actively and successfully undergoing a formal program of
vocational rehabilitation. Such expenses may include training fees for
on-the-job training and the cost of furnishing tools and other equipment
necessary for self-employment or reemployment: PROVIDED, That such
compensation or payment of retraining with job placement expenses may not be
authorized for a period of more than fifty-two weeks: PROVIDED FURTHER, That
such period may, in the sole discretion of the supervisor after his or her
review, be extended for an additional fifty-two weeks or portion thereof by
written order of the supervisor.
In
cases where the worker is required to reside away from his or her customary
residence, the reasonable cost of board and lodging shall also be paid. Said
costs shall be chargeable to the employer's cost experience or shall be paid by
the self-insurer as the case may be.
(4) In
addition to the vocational rehabilitation expenditures provided for under
subsection (3) of this section, an additional five thousand dollars may, upon
authorization of the supervisor or the supervisor's designee, be expended for:
(a) Accommodations for an injured worker that are medically necessary for the
worker to participate in an approved retraining plan; and (b) accommodations
necessary to perform the essential functions of an occupation in which an
injured worker is seeking employment, consistent with the retraining plan or
the recommendations of a vocational evaluation. The injured worker's attending
physician must verify the necessity of the modifications or accommodations.
The total expenditures authorized in this subsection and the expenditures
authorized under RCW 51.32.250 shall not exceed five thousand dollars.
(5)
The department shall establish criteria to monitor the quality and
effectiveness of rehabilitation services provided by the individuals and
organizations used under subsection (1) of this section. The state fund shall
make referrals for vocational rehabilitation services based on these
performance criteria.
(((5)))
(6) The department shall engage in, where feasible and cost-effective, a
cooperative program with the state employment security department to provide
job placement services under this section.
(((6)))
(7) The benefits in this section shall be provided for the injured
workers of self-insured employers. Self-insurers shall report both benefits
provided and benefits denied under this section in the manner prescribed by the
department by rule adopted under chapter 34.05 RCW. The director may, in his
or her sole discretion and upon his or her own initiative or at any time that a
dispute arises under this section, promptly make such inquiries as
circumstances require and take such other action as he or she considers will
properly determine the matter and protect the rights of the parties.
(((7)))
(8) The benefits provided for in this section are available to any
otherwise eligible worker regardless of the date of industrial injury.
However, claims shall not be reopened solely for vocational rehabilitation
purposes.
