AN
ACT Relating to the maximum expenditure allowed for vocational rehabilitation
benefits under industrial insurance; reenacting and amending RCW 51.32.095;
creating a new section; providing an effective date; and declaring an
emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
51.32.095 and 1996 c 151 s 1 and 1996 c 59 s 1 are each reenacted and 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)(a)
Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, 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 except as authorized by RCW
51.60.060, 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))
(b)
Beginning with vocational rehabilitation plans approved on or after the
effective date of this section, 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,
child or dependent care, and other necessary expenses for any such worker in an
amount not to exceed four thousand dollars in any fifty-two week period except
as authorized by RCW 51.60.060, and the cost of transportation and 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.
(c)
The expenses allowed under (a) or (b) of this subsection 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)). However, compensation or payment of retraining with
job placement expenses under (a) or (b) of this subsection may not be
authorized for a period of more than fifty-two weeks((: PROVIDED FURTHER)),
except 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.
(d)
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))
(e)
Costs paid under this subsection 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.
(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.
(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.
(8)
Except as otherwise provided in this section, 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.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. The
department of labor and industries shall conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the
benefit increase authorized in RCW 51.32.095(3)(b). The analysis must include
an examination of utilization of the benefit increase, including the number of
claims in which vocational rehabilitation benefits are used more than once, and
vocational results, including return-to-work and long-term wage replacement
outcomes. The department shall report the results of the analysis to the
workers' compensation advisory committee and the appropriate committees of the
legislature by November 1, 2001.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.
Section 1 of 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, 1999.
