Washington Workman's Comp Needs Help

Washington Workman’s Comp Needs Help. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

What happens when you get injured on the job? You file a workman’s comp claim and at some point it is determined either you can or can not return to your job. According to Dan Fazio with Washington Farm Bureau, there is a fly in that ointment.

FAZIO: The Department of Labor and Industries has announced that it is basically out of money in the workers comp trust fund and so they need to raise rates for employers. Their actuary says that they need to raise rates about 20% but in their beneficents’ the state has only decided that they’re going to raise rates 7.6% on most employers. On agricultural employers it looks like a little bit more, 8%.

Fazio says that Washington Farm Bureau wants the system fixed before they raise any rates.

FAZIO: We know that the worker’s comp system in Washington is absolutely broken. Listen, employers are doing their part. Since 1990 the number of claims has dropped by 55%, the claims frequency so we are making our work places safer.

The state is really taking a long time to resolve issues and get on with the next case.

FAZIO: By contrast the state Department of Labor and Industries can close the claims that they have open. The average claim that is open in Washington State is open for 257 days, that’s 3 times the national average. Look at Oregon just south of us, their average claim is just 70 days.

Tomorrow Fazio discusses more problems with the issue.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.