H-3468              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 2701

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Representatives Leonard, R. King, Prentice, Cole, Jones, Rector and Dellwo

Read first time 1/19/90 and referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

AN ACT Relating to prohibited practices in industrial insurance; amending RCW 51.28.050; adding a new section to chapter 51.48 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 51.48 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) It shall be unlawful for any person to:

          (a) Induce or coerce an employee not to report an industrial accident;

          (b) Induce or coerce an employee to treat an industrial accident as an off-the-job injury;

          (c) Persuade an employee to accept less than the compensation due under this title;

          (d) Unreasonably make it necessary for the employee to resort to proceedings against the employer to obtain compensation;

          (e) Fail to comply with the rules of the department regarding reports or other requirements necessary to carry out the purposes of this title;

          (f) Engage in a practice of arbitrarily or unreasonably refusing employment to applicants for employment or discharging employees because of nondisabling bodily conditions;

          (g) Unduly influence, or otherwise pressure, an employee's attending physician with regard to releasing the employee for return to work; or

          (h) Communicate with the attending physician, the department, or the employee's vocational rehabilitation counselor without first notifying the employee or the employee's representative.

          (2) A person who violates any provision of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of one thousand dollars for each offense.

        Sec. 2.  Section 51.28.050, chapter 23, Laws of 1961 as amended by section 1, chapter 159, Laws of 1984 and RCW 51.28.050 are each amended to read as follows:

          No application shall be valid or claim thereunder enforceable unless filed within one year after the day upon which the injury occurred or the rights of dependents or beneficiaries accrued, except as provided in RCW 51.28.055.  An application shall be exempt from the limitation imposed by this section if the failure to file the application or take action to enforce a claim thereunder resulted from an act prohibited by section 1 of this 1990 act.