The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) takes L&I claim fraud very seriously. Under the Industrial Insurance Act, the letter of the law refers to fraud as “willful misrepresentation”. Under the law (WAC 296-14-4121) it says: “[I]t…
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The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) recently announced the 2020-2021 benefits schedule. Every year, around July, L&I determines if a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) applies to workers’ compensation benefits. Sometimes COLAs are no…
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In a work injury claim or an occupational disease claim, the attending provider (AP) refers to a person that has a license to practice medicine or a similar field. For example, attending physicians can practice general medicine, surgery, osteopathic…
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Sometimes claims for workplace injury are called “medical only” claims. Often, work injury claimants do not understand what it means to have this kind of claim. Yet, it’s important to understand the difference between “medical only” workers…
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The Vocational Recovery Project is an ongoing workers’ compensation initiative by the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I). According to L&I, the goal of this initiative is to “engage all parties in preventing work disability by impro…
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Anyone who recently traveled through Tacoma in Washington knows that there’s a major construction zone on highway I-5. The construction site is on the road near the Tacoma Dome. The local municipality reduced the speed limit through this area to 50…
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COVID-19 brings up several new issues in the workers compensation settings. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many discussions and questions around how to stay safe at work. Clearly, we all want to prevent work injury, work illnesses and occupati…
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How do I settle my claim? Can I get paid for my claim? What can I do to get an L&I claim settlement? These are common questions I get from people with an L&I claim or a workers’ compensation claim. To answer, I usually have to explain how L…
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Previously, I posted articles about temporary total disability and how to calculate time-loss compensation wages. In short, we consider people with work injury that are unable to work as temporarily and totally disabled. Work injury claimants that fa…
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Workers’ compensation is a vital program for the safety and health of our workforce in Washington State. It is relatively straight forward, and the Industrial Insurance Act governs the Workers’ Compensation system. However, in my experience, most…
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