If you suffer an injury at work or develop an occupational disease, you need to file a claim right away. The best way to file an L&I claim is to see a doctor. There, you will fill out a Report of Accident (ROA) form. You must complete the ROA for…
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People regularly call my office asking for advice about their L&I claim. Many times, they ask about common mistakes. More correctly, they want to know what mistakes to avoid. By far, the biggest mistake I see is when work injury claimants wait to…
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Surveillance in an L&I claim is relatively common. In fact, work injury claimants encounter surveillance in both self-insured claims and state-funded L&I claims. It isn’t against the law. Private investigators usually conduct the surveillan…
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I get lots of questions from work injury claimants. Many have concerns regarding L&I medical coverage. This is understandable. It sometimes feels like a mystery. After all, it’s difficult to predict if your L&I claim is going to cover certa…
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The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) sometimes sends overpayment notices to work injury claimants. Receiving one of these letters can be very stressful. The purpose of the notice is to tell you that you’ve been overpaid. And yes, they w…
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I represent many healthcare workers in their L&I claim after a work injury. In fact, healthcare work injury occurrences can be very bad. Over time, I learned that healthcare workers face unique hazards in their workplace. This fact applies to all…
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The definition of negligence in Washington State is when someone doesn’t exercise ordinary care. What does that mean? In short, it means doing something that a reasonably careful person wouldn’t do. But, it can also mean the failure to do some ac…
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The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) implemented new rules for self-insured independent medical examinations. In short, we call this exam a self-insured IME exam. These rules passed the legislative section during 2019-2020. I’m happ…
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I recently ran into issues with designating an attending provider. So, I decided to write this article to help shed some light on the topic. In L&I claims and self-insured employer claims in Washington State, the opinions of attending providers r…
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Figuring out when to retire is always a big decision. Even if you don’t have an open workers’ compensation claim. However, retiring with an open L&I claim is even more complex. In fact, if you voluntarily retire while you have an open L&I…
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