FINAL BILL REPORT
SHB 2614
C 97 L 94
Synopsis as Enacted
Brief Description: Allowing self‑insured employers to close disability claims after July 1990.
By House Committee on Commerce & Labor (originally sponsored by Representatives King, Lisk, G. Cole, Foreman, Chandler, Brough, Dyer, Silver and Van Luven).
House Committee on Commerce & Labor
Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce
Background: Self-insured employers are authorized to close the industrial insurance claims of their workers if the claims involve only medical treatment. Claims with other types of compensation are closed by the Department of Labor and Industries.
Between 1986 and 1990, self‑insured employers were authorized to close industrial insurance claims if either medical treatment payments or temporary disability payments were made on the claims. The self-insurer could not close claims that involved permanent disabilities or raised disputes that required intervention by the department. In addition, the injured worker was required to have returned to work with the employer. The authority to close these claims expired July 1, 1990.
The Governor vetoed a bill in 1993 that would have reauthorized closure of these claims by self-insurers. The bill would have added the condition that the worker had returned to work with the employer at the previous job or a job with comparable wages, benefits and permanency.
Summary: Self‑insured employers' authority to close certain industrial insurance claims is reinstated and made permanent. The claims may include temporary disability payments, or payments for both medical treatment and temporary disability but may not involve payment for permanent disability. These claims may be closed by the self-insurer only if the Department of Labor and Industries has not intervened because of a dispute and if the injured worker has returned to work with the self-insured employer at the worker's previous job or a job that has comparable wages and benefits.
Votes on Final Passage:
House 94 0
Senate 48 0
Effective: June 9, 1994