ESHB 2002 -
By Committee on Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection
NOT CONSIDERED 05/25/2011
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"Sec. 1 RCW 51.32.090 and 2007 c 284 s 3 and 2007 c 190 s 1 are
each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(1) When the total disability is only temporary, the schedule of
payments contained in RCW 51.32.060 (1) and (2) shall apply, so long as
the total disability continues.
(2) Any compensation payable under this section for children not in
the custody of the injured worker as of the date of injury shall be
payable only to such person as actually is providing the support for
such child or children pursuant to the order of a court of record
providing for support of such child or children.
(3)(a) As soon as recovery is so complete that the present earning
power of the worker, at any kind of work, is restored to that existing
at the time of the occurrence of the injury, the payments shall cease.
If and so long as the present earning power is only partially restored,
the payments shall:
(i) For claims for injuries that occurred before May 7, 1993,
continue in the proportion which the new earning power shall bear to
the old; or
(ii) For claims for injuries occurring on or after May 7, 1993,
equal eighty percent of the actual difference between the worker's
present wages and earning power at the time of injury, but: (A) The
total of these payments and the worker's present wages may not exceed
one hundred fifty percent of the average monthly wage in the state as
computed under RCW 51.08.018; (B) the payments may not exceed one
hundred percent of the entitlement as computed under subsection (1) of
this section; and (C) the payments may not be less than the worker
would have received if (a)(i) of this subsection had been applicable to
the worker's claim.
(b) No compensation shall be payable under this subsection (3)
unless the loss of earning power shall exceed five percent.
(c) The prior closure of the claim or the receipt of permanent
partial disability benefits shall not affect the rate at which loss of
earning power benefits are calculated upon reopening the claim.
(4)(a) The legislature finds that long-term disability and the cost
of injuries is significantly reduced when injured workers remain at
work following their injury. To encourage employers at the time of
injury to provide light duty or transitional work for their workers,
wage subsidies and other incentives are made available to employers
insured with the department.
(b) Whenever the employer of injury requests that a worker who is
entitled to temporary total disability under this chapter be certified
by a physician or licensed advanced registered nurse practitioner as
able to perform available work other than his or her usual work, the
employer shall furnish to the physician or licensed advanced registered
nurse practitioner, with a copy to the worker, a statement describing
the work available with the employer of injury in terms that will
enable the physician or licensed advanced registered nurse practitioner
to relate the physical activities of the job to the worker's
disability. The physician or licensed advanced registered nurse
practitioner shall then determine whether the worker is physically able
to perform the work described. The worker's temporary total disability
payments shall continue until the worker is released by his or her
physician or licensed advanced registered nurse practitioner for the
work, and begins the work with the employer of injury. If the work
thereafter comes to an end before the worker's recovery is sufficient
in the judgment of his or her physician or licensed advanced registered
nurse practitioner to permit him or her to return to his or her usual
job, or to perform other available work offered by the employer of
injury, the worker's temporary total disability payments shall be
resumed. Should the available work described, once undertaken by the
worker, impede his or her recovery to the extent that in the judgment
of his or her physician or licensed advanced registered nurse
practitioner he or she should not continue to work, the worker's
temporary total disability payments shall be resumed when the worker
ceases such work.
(((b))) (c) To further encourage employers to maintain the
employment of their injured workers, an employer insured with the
department and that offers work to a worker pursuant to this subsection
(4) shall be eligible for reimbursement of the injured worker's wages
for light duty or transitional work equal to fifty percent of the
basic, gross wages paid for that work, for a maximum of sixty-six work
days within a consecutive twenty-four month period. In no event may
the wage subsidies paid to an employer on a claim exceed ten thousand
dollars. Wage subsidies shall be calculated using the worker's basic
hourly wages or basic salary, and no subsidy shall be paid for any
other form of compensation or payment to the worker such as tips,
commissions, bonuses, board, housing, fuel, health care, dental care,
vision care, per diem, reimbursements for work-related expenses, or any
other payments. An employer may not, under any circumstances, receive
a wage subsidy for a day in which the worker did not actually perform
any work, regardless of whether or not the employer paid the worker
wages for that day.
(d) If an employer insured with the department offers a worker work
pursuant to this subsection (4) and the worker must be provided with
training or instruction to be qualified to perform the offered work,
the employer shall be eligible for a reimbursement from the department
for any tuition, books, fees, and materials required for that training
or instruction, up to a maximum of one thousand dollars. Reimbursing
an employer for the costs of such training or instruction does not
constitute a determination by the department that the worker is
eligible for vocational services authorized by RCW 51.32.095 and
51.32.099.
(e) If an employer insured with the department offers a worker work
pursuant to this subsection (4), and the employer provides the worker
with clothing that is necessary to allow the worker to perform the
offered work, the employer shall be eligible for reimbursement for such
clothing from the department, up to a maximum of four hundred dollars:
PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That an employer shall not receive reimbursement for
any clothing it provided to the worker that it normally provides to its
workers. The clothing purchased for the worker shall become the
worker's property once the work comes to an end.
(f) If an employer insured with the department offers a worker work
pursuant to this subsection (4) and the worker must be provided with
tools or equipment to perform the offered work, the employer shall be
eligible for a reimbursement from the department for such tools and
equipment and related costs as determined by department rule, up to a
maximum of two thousand five hundred dollars. An employer shall not be
reimbursed for any tools or equipment purchased prior to offering the
work to the worker pursuant to this subsection (4). An employer shall
not be reimbursed for any tools or equipment that it normally provides
to its workers. The tools and equipment shall be the property of the
employer.
(g) An employer may offer work to a worker pursuant to this
subsection (4) more than once, but in no event may the employer receive
wage subsidies for more than sixty-six days of work in a consecutive
twenty-four month period under one claim. An employer may continue to
offer work pursuant to this subsection (4) after the worker has
performed sixty-six days of work, but the employer shall not be
eligible to receive wage subsidies for such work.
(h) An employer shall not receive any wage subsidies or
reimbursement of any expenses pursuant to this subsection (4) unless
the employer has completed and submitted the reimbursement request on
forms developed by the department, along with all related information
required by department rules. No wage subsidy or reimbursement shall
be paid to an employer who fails to submit a form for such payment
within one year of the date the work was performed. In no event shall
an employer receive wage subsidy payments or reimbursements of any
expenses pursuant to this subsection (4) unless the worker's physician
or licensed advanced registered nurse practitioner has restricted him
or her from performing his or her usual work and the worker's physician
or licensed advanced registered nurse practitioner has released him or
her to perform the work offered.
(i) Payments made under (b) through (g) of this subsection are
subject to penalties under RCW 51.32.240(5) in cases where the funds
were obtained through willful misrepresentation.
(j) Once the worker returns to work under the terms of this
subsection (4), he or she shall not be assigned by the employer to work
other than the available work described without the ((worker's written
consent, or without prior review and)) approval ((by)) of the worker's
physician or licensed advanced registered nurse practitioner. An
employer who directs a claimant to perform work other than that
approved by the attending physician and without the approval of the
worker's physician or licensed advanced registered nurse practitioner
shall not receive any wage subsidy or other reimbursements for such
work.
(((c))) (k) If the worker returns to work under this subsection
(4), any employee health and welfare benefits that the worker was
receiving at the time of injury shall continue or be resumed at the
level provided at the time of injury. Such benefits shall not be
continued or resumed if to do so is inconsistent with the terms of the
benefit program, or with the terms of the collective bargaining
agreement currently in force.
(((d))) (l) In the event of any dispute as to the validity of the
work offered or as to the worker's ability to perform the available
work offered by the employer, the department shall make the final
determination pursuant to an order that contains the notice required by
RCW 51.52.060 and that is subject to appeal subject to RCW 51.52.050.
(5) An employer's experience rating shall not be affected by the
employer's request for or receipt of wage subsidies.
(6) The department shall create a Washington stay-at-work account
which shall be funded by assessments of employers insured through the
state fund for the costs of the payments authorized by subsection (4)
of this section and for the cost of creating a reserve for anticipated
liabilities. Employers may collect up to one-half the fund assessment
from workers.
(7) No worker shall receive compensation for or during the day on
which injury was received or the three days following the same, unless
his or her disability shall continue for a period of fourteen
consecutive calendar days from date of injury: PROVIDED, That attempts
to return to work in the first fourteen days following the injury shall
not serve to break the continuity of the period of disability if the
disability continues fourteen days after the injury occurs.
(((6))) (8) Should a worker suffer a temporary total disability and
should his or her employer at the time of the injury continue to pay
him or her the wages which he or she was earning at the time of such
injury, such injured worker shall not receive any payment provided in
subsection (1) of this section during the period his or her employer
shall so pay such wages: PROVIDED, That holiday pay, vacation pay,
sick leave, or other similar benefits shall not be deemed to be
payments by the employer for the purposes of this subsection.
(((7))) (9) In no event shall the monthly payments provided in this
section:
(a) Exceed the applicable percentage of the average monthly wage in
the state as computed under the provisions of RCW 51.08.018 as follows:
AFTER | PERCENTAGE | ||
June 30, 1993 | 105% | ||
June 30, 1994 | 110% | ||
June 30, 1995 | 115% | ||
June 30, 1996 | 120% |
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 Section 1 of this act expires July 1, 2016.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 This act is necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the
state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect
July 1, 2011."
ESHB 2002 -
By Committee on Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection
NOT CONSIDERED 05/25/2011
On page 1, line 2 of the title, after "work;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "reenacting and amending RCW 51.32.090; providing an effective date; providing an expiration date; and declaring an emergency."