Given Washington’s stay-at-home orders, many employers made quick arrangements to have a significant amount of their workforce “telecommute” from home. While this change to remote work is generally positive (allowing workers to keep jobs, assist the economy and keep vital work functions moving despite the COVID-19 impact on the world at large), employers may struggle…

The implications of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic is permeating daily life on an increasingly greater scale. An earlier Reinisch Wilson Weier blog (linked here) discussed the relevant legal analysis if you receive a claim for COVID-19, as a work-related condition. What about impact of COVID-19 on active claims in an indirect fashion? Below are…

A few weeks ago, we shared our initial thoughts on coronavirus (“COVID-19”) and workers’ compensation. Since then, the World Health Organization classified COVID-19 as a pandemic, and the Department of Labor and Industries (“Department”) has offered additional guidance on how to handle COVID-19 claims. The attorneys at Reinisch Wilson Weier continue to closely monitor this…

As our Oregon workers’ compensation industry navigates the impact of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”), Reinisch Wilson Weier PC is providing the following starting points to help you review and process COVID-19-related workers’ compensation claims. [NOTE: “COVID-19” is short for coronavirus disease. The actual name of the virus is “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or…

Employers are often caught off-guard when a Washington Department of Labor and Industries’ workers’ compensation audit results in a daunting Order of Assessment demanding back payment of industrial insurance premiums, penalties and accruing interest due to the misclassification of covered workers. Simply labeling a contractor as “independent” does not take away the workers’ compensation protections…