Workman's Comp Issues Part 2

Workman’s Comp Issues Part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Washington State has a problem with workman’s comp. The average claim is open for 257 days, that’s 3 times the national average. And according to Washington Farm Bureau’s Dan Fazio, there is another sobering statistic.

FAZIO: I saw a statistic the other day, there are over 5000 workers comp claims in Washington State that have been on temporary disability for over 5 years. It is scary. It’s not a good deal for employers; it’s not a good deal for workers. Workers don’t want to be wards of the state, this is state healthcare run amok.

Not only are there a large number of claims open for an inordinately long amount of time but Fazio says there is another issue with the system.

FAZIO: We have a system in Washington that kind of isolates the employer. We’re the only state where you can open a workers comp claim without informing your employer. About 10% of the workers comp claims that get opened in Washington State, the employer never even got a chance to comment on whether or not that was a legitimate claim.

Fazio says the whole issue needs to be addressed now and it needs to be done before L&I raise any rates.

FAZIO: We haven’t had any serious comprehensive reform of our workers comp program since 1988 and during that time we’ve had lots of problems with the system that have been highlighted so we need to have simple, common sense reform like they have in every state.

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