AN ACT Relating to
industrial insurance penalties; amending RCW 51.16.200, 51.32.020, 51.32.040,
51.48.020, 51.48.120, and 51.48.150; adding a new section to chapter 43.22 RCW;
prescribing penalties; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 51.16.200 and 1986 c
9 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
Whenever any employer
quits business, or sells out, exchanges, or otherwise disposes of the
employer's business or stock of goods, any tax payable hereunder shall become
immediately due and payable, and the employer shall, within ten days
thereafter, make a return and pay the tax due; and any person who becomes a
successor to such business shall become liable for the full amount of the tax
and withhold from the purchase price a sum sufficient to pay any tax due from
the employer until such time as the employer shall produce a receipt from the
department showing payment in full of any tax due or a certificate that no tax
is due and, if such tax is not paid by the employer within ten days from the
date of such sale, exchange, or disposal, the successor shall become liable for
the payment of the full amount of tax, and the payment thereof by such
successor shall, to the extent thereof, be deemed a payment upon the purchase
price, and if such payment is greater in amount than the purchase price the
amount of the difference shall become a debt due such successor from the
employer.
No successor may be
liable for any tax due from the person from whom ((that person)) the
successor has acquired a business or stock of goods if ((that person))
the successor gives written notice to the department of such acquisition
and no assessment is issued by the department within ((sixty)) one
hundred eighty days of receipt of such notice against the former operator
of the business and a copy thereof mailed to such successor.
Sec. 2. RCW 51.32.020 and 1977
ex.s. c 350 s 39 are each amended to read as follows:
If injury or death
results to a worker from the deliberate intention of the worker himself or
herself to produce such injury or death, or while the worker is engaged in the
attempt to commit, or the commission of, a felony, neither the worker nor the
widow, widower, child, or dependent of the worker shall receive any payment
under this title.
If injury or death
results to a worker from the deliberate intention of a beneficiary of that
worker to produce the injury or death, or if injury or death results to a
worker as a consequence of a beneficiary of that worker engaging in the attempt
to commit, or the commission of, a felony, the beneficiary shall not receive
any payment under this title.
An invalid child, while
being supported and cared for in a state institution, shall not receive
compensation under this chapter.
No payment shall be
made to or for a natural child of a deceased worker and, at the same time, as
the stepchild of a deceased worker.
Sec. 3. RCW 51.32.040 and 1987 c
75 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) Except as
provided in RCW 43.20B.720 and 74.20A.260, no money paid or payable under
this title shall, ((except as provided for in RCW 43.20B.720 or 74.20A.260,
prior to)) before the issuance and delivery of the check or warrant
((therefor)), be ((capable of being)) assigned, charged, or ((ever
be)) taken in execution ((or)), attached ((or)),
garnished, ((nor shall the same)) or pass((,)) or be
paid((,)) to any other person by operation of law, ((or by)) any
form of voluntary assignment, or power of attorney. Any such assignment or
charge ((shall be)) is void((,)) unless the transfer is to
a financial institution at the request of a worker or other beneficiary and made
in accordance with RCW 51.32.045 ((shall be made: PROVIDED, That)).
(2)(a) If any
worker suffers (i) a permanent partial injury((,)) and dies from
some other cause than the accident which produced ((such)) the
injury before he or she ((shall have received)) receives payment
of ((his or her)) the award for ((such)) the
permanent partial injury((,)) or ((if any worker suffers)) (ii)
any other injury before he or she ((shall have received)) receives
payment of any monthly installment covering any period of time ((prior to))
before his or her death, the amount of ((such)) the
permanent partial disability award((,)) or ((of such)) the
monthly payment, or both, shall be paid to the surviving spouse((,))
or ((to)) the child or children if there is no surviving spouse((:
PROVIDED FURTHER, That,)).
(b) If any
worker suffers an injury and dies ((therefrom)) from it before he
or she ((shall have received)) receives payment of any monthly
installment covering time loss for any period of time ((prior to)) before
his or her death, the amount of ((such)) the monthly payment
shall be paid to the surviving spouse((,)) or ((to)) the child or
children if there is no surviving spouse((: PROVIDED FURTHER, That)).
(c) Any
application for compensation under ((the foregoing provisos of this section))
this subsection (2) shall be filed with the department or self-insuring
employer within one year of the date of death((: PROVIDED FURTHER, That)).
However, if the injured worker resided in the United States as long as
three years ((prior to)) before the date of injury, ((such))
payment under this subsection (2) shall not be made to any surviving
spouse or child who was at the time of the injury a nonresident of the United
States((: PROVIDED FURTHER, That)).
(3)(a) Any
worker or beneficiary receiving benefits under this title who is
subsequently confined in, or who subsequently becomes eligible ((therefor))
for benefits under this title while confined in, any institution
under conviction and sentence shall have all payments of ((such)) the
compensation canceled during the period of confinement ((but)). After
discharge from the institution, payment of benefits ((thereafter))
due afterward shall be paid if ((such)) the worker or
beneficiary would, ((but)) except for the provisions of this
((proviso)) subsection (3), otherwise be entitled ((thereto:
PROVIDED FURTHER, That)) to them.
(b) If any
prisoner is injured in the course of his or her employment while participating
in a work or training release program authorized by chapter 72.65 RCW and is
subject to the provisions of this title, he or she ((shall be)) is
entitled to payments under this title, subject to the requirements of
chapter 72.65 RCW, unless his or her participation in ((such)) the
program has been canceled, or unless he or she is returned to a state
correctional institution, as defined in RCW 72.65.010(3), as a result of
revocation of parole or new sentence((: PROVIDED FURTHER, That)).
(c) If ((such
incarcerated)) the confined worker has any beneficiaries
during ((such)) the confinement period during which benefits
are canceled under (a) or (b) of this subsection, ((any beneficiaries,))
they shall be paid directly the monthly benefits which would have been paid to
((him or her)) the worker for himself or herself and ((his or
her)) the worker's beneficiaries had ((he or she)) the
worker not been ((so)) confined.
(4) Any lump sum
benefits to which ((the)) a worker would otherwise be entitled
but for the provisions of ((these provisos)) this section shall
be paid on a monthly basis to his or her beneficiaries.
Sec. 4. RCW 51.48.020 and 1987 c
221 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) Any employer, who
misrepresents to the department the amount of his or her payroll or employee
hours upon which the premium under this title is based, shall be liable to
the state in ten times the amount of the difference in premiums paid and the
amount the employer should have paid and for the reasonable expenses of
auditing his or her books and collecting such sums. Such liability may be
enforced in the name of the department. If such misrepresentations are made
knowingly, an employer shall also be guilty of a felony, or gross misdemeanor
in accordance with the theft and anticipatory provisions of Title 9A RCW.
(2) Any person claiming
benefits under this title, who knowingly gives false information required in
any claim or application under this title shall be guilty of a felony, or gross
misdemeanor in accordance with the theft and anticipatory provisions of Title
9A RCW.
Sec. 5. RCW 51.48.120 and 1986 c
9 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:
If any employer should
default in any payment due to the state fund the director or the director's
designee may issue a notice of assessment certifying the amount due, which
notice shall be served upon the employer by mailing such notice to the employer
by certified mail to the employer's last known address((, accompanied by an
affidavit of service by mailing,)) or served in the manner prescribed for
the service of a summons in a civil action. Such notice shall contain the
information that an appeal must be filed with the board of industrial insurance
appeals and the director by mail or personally within thirty days of the date
of service of the notice of assessment in order to appeal the assessment unless
a written request for reconsideration is filed with the department of labor and
industries.
Sec. 6. RCW 51.48.150 and 1987 c
442 s 1119 are each amended to read as follows:
The director or the
director's designee is hereby authorized to issue to any person, firm,
corporation, municipal corporation, political subdivision of the state, a
public corporation, or any agency of the state, a notice and order to withhold
and deliver property of any kind whatsoever when he or she has reason to
believe that there is in the possession of such person, firm, corporation,
municipal corporation, political subdivision of the state, public corporation,
or any agency of the state, property which is or shall become due, owing, or
belonging to any employer upon whom a notice of assessment has been served by
the department for payments due to the state fund. The effect of a notice and
order to withhold and deliver shall be continuous from the date such notice and
order to withhold and deliver is first made until the liability out of which
such notice and order to withhold and deliver arose is satisfied or becomes
unenforceable because of lapse of time. The department shall release the
notice and order to withhold and deliver when the liability out of which the
notice and order to withhold and deliver arose is satisfied or becomes
unenforceable by reason of lapse of time and shall notify the person against
whom the notice and order to withhold and deliver was made that such notice and
order to withhold and deliver has been released.
The notice and order to
withhold and deliver shall be served by the sheriff of the county or by the
sheriff's deputy, by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by any
duly authorized representatives of the director. Any person, firm,
corporation, municipal corporation, political subdivision of the state, public
corporation or any agency of the state upon whom service has been made is
hereby required to answer the notice within twenty days exclusive of the day of
service, under oath and in writing, and shall make true answers to the matters
inquired of in the notice and order to withhold and deliver. In the event there
is in the possession of the party named and served with a notice and order to
withhold and deliver, any property which may be subject to the claim of the
department, such property shall be delivered forthwith to the director or the
director's duly authorized representative upon service of the notice to
withhold and deliver which will be held in trust by the director for
application on the employer's indebtedness to the department, or for return
without interest, in accordance with a final determination of a petition for
review, or in the alternative such party shall furnish a good and sufficient
surety bond satisfactory to the director conditioned upon final determination
of liability. Should any party served and named in the notice to withhold and
deliver fail to make answer to such notice and order to withhold and deliver,
within the time prescribed herein, it shall be lawful for the court, after the
time to answer such order has expired, to render judgment by default against
the party named in the notice to withhold and deliver for the full amount
claimed by the director in the notice to withhold and deliver together with
costs. In the event that a notice to withhold and deliver is served upon an
employer and the property found to be subject thereto is wages, then the
employer shall be entitled to assert in the answer to all exemptions provided
for by chapter 6.27 RCW to which the wage earner may be entitled.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
7. A new section is added
to chapter 43.22 RCW to read as follows:
The
department shall annually compile a comprehensive report on workers'
compensation fraud in Washington. The report shall include the department's
activities related to the prevention, detection, and prosecution of worker,
employer, and provider fraud and the cost of such activities, as well as the
actual and estimated cost savings of such activities. The report shall be
submitted to the appropriate committees of the legislature prior to the start
of the legislative session in January.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 8. Sections 2 and 3 of this
act shall apply from the effective date of this act without regard to the date
of injury or the date of filing a claim.
