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L&I Covid-19 Premium Deferral Program and the L&I Accident Fund

The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) administers workers’ compensation benefits in Washington State. These include financial benefits such as time-loss compensation, loss of earning power, work injury pension, and more. Furthermore, benefits include medical treatment, evaluation, vocational services and retraining, and others. Also, self-insured employers administer their claims according to the requirements of the Industrial Insurance Act.

Work Injury and Workplace Accident Heroes: Nominate Workers That Saved Lives

A workplace can be dangerous. It can even be deadly. When disaster occurs, many workers respond heroically to help coworkers and others, and save lives.

L&I Issues Fines for Washington State Companies for Deadly Safety Violations

Back in January, a trench collapsed at the wind farm site in Skookumchuck, Washington. The trench collapse killed one worker and resulted in a work injury that seriously wounded another. Recently, the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) announced the results of a long investigation of the incident.

L&I Pension – Permanent Total Disability

A catastrophic work injury or occupational disease can make work injury victims unemployable. Here, unemployable means that the person is unable to “perform or obtain a gainful occupation with a reasonable degree of success and continuity”. If medical treatment or vocational services cannot make the person employable, then the work injury claimant is permanently and totally disabled. If you have an L&I claim or workers’ compensation claim, and you are permanently totally disabled, then you are entitled to “pension” benefits under your claim.

Fraud in L&I Claims and Workers’ Compensation Claims in Washington State

The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) takes 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 is willful misrepresentation for a person to obtain payments or other benefits in an amount greater than that to which he or she would have otherwise been entitled. Willful misrepresentation includes making a willful false statement or the willful misrepresentation, omission, or concealment of any material fact.”. In fact, if L&I finds willful misrepresentation, they can demand repayment and assess a 50% penalty. If the willful misrepresentation is egregious, it can lead to criminal charges.