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…

On remand from the Oregon Court of Appeals, the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Board recently found that although a combined condition had been accepted and a current combined condition denial issued, the material cause standard applied for determining compensability of a diagnostic MRI. In Daniel B. Slater,[1] the worker’s claim was accepted for a medial collateral…

To authorize or not to authorize? Authorization of treatment is a tricky issue for Washington self-insured employers trying to strike a balance between restoring an injured worker’s function and running afoul of Washington’s compensable consequences doctrine, which can hold an employer or insurer responsible for issues stemming from treatments provided under a claim. The Washington…