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SUBSTITUTE
SENATE BILL 5147
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AS
AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
Passed
Legislature - 1999 Regular Session
State of Washington 56th
Legislature 1999 Regular Session
By
Read first time 02/17/1999.
Prescribing
procedures for payment of industrial insurance awards after death.
AN
ACT Relating to payment of industrial insurance awards after death; and
amending RCW 51.32.040 and 51.48.110.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
51.32.040 and 1996 c 47 s 1 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, before the issuance and delivery of the check or
warrant, be assigned, charged, or taken in execution, attached, garnished, or
pass or be paid to any other person by operation of law, any form of voluntary
assignment, or power of attorney. Any such assignment or charge 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.
(2)(a)
If any worker suffers (i) a permanent partial injury and dies from some other
cause than the accident which produced the injury before he or she receives
payment of the award for the permanent partial injury or (ii) any other injury
before he or she receives payment of any monthly installment covering any
period of time before his or her death, the amount of the permanent partial
disability award or the monthly payment, or both, shall be paid to the
surviving spouse or the child or children if there is no surviving spouse. If
there is no surviving spouse and no child or children, the award or the amount
of the monthly payment shall be paid by the department or self-insurer and
distributed consistent with the terms of the decedent's will or, if the
decedent dies intestate, consistent with the terms of RCW 11.04.015.
(b)
If any worker suffers an injury and dies from it before he or she receives
payment of any monthly installment covering time loss for any period of time
before his or her death, the amount of the monthly payment shall be paid to the
surviving spouse or the child or children if there is no surviving spouse. If
there is no surviving spouse and no child or children, the amount of the
monthly payment shall be paid by the department or self-insurer and distributed
consistent with the terms of the decedent's will or, if the decedent dies
intestate, consistent with the terms of RCW 11.04.015.
(c)
Any application for compensation under this subsection (2) shall be filed with
the department or self-insuring employer within one year of the date of death.
The department or self-insurer may satisfy its responsibilities under this
subsection (2) by sending any payment due in the name of the decedent and to
the last known address of the decedent.
(3)(a)
Any worker or beneficiary receiving benefits under this title who is
subsequently confined in, or who subsequently becomes eligible for benefits
under this title while confined in, any institution under conviction and
sentence shall have all payments of the compensation canceled during the period
of confinement. After discharge from the institution, payment of benefits due
afterward shall be paid if the worker or beneficiary would, except for the
provisions of this subsection (3), otherwise be entitled 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 is entitled to
payments under this title, subject to the requirements of chapter 72.65 RCW,
unless his or her participation in 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.
(c)
If the confined worker has any beneficiaries during the confinement period
during which benefits are canceled under (a) or (b) of this subsection, they
shall be paid directly the monthly benefits which would have been paid to the
worker for himself or herself and the worker's beneficiaries had the worker not
been confined.
(4)
Any lump sum benefits to which a worker would otherwise be entitled but for the
provisions of this section shall be paid on a monthly basis to his or her
beneficiaries.
Sec.
2. RCW
51.48.110 and 1986 c 56 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
Where death results from the injury or occupational disease and the
deceased leaves no beneficiaries, a self-insurer shall pay into the
supplemental pension fund the sum of ten thousand dollars, less any amount
that the self-insurer paid under RCW 51.32.040(2) as payment due for the period
of time before the worker's death.
