Although it may seem like a misnomer, independent contractors may still fall under the coverage of the Washington Industrial Insurance Act (“Act”). As many employers well know, the line between an exempt independent contractor and a covered worker can be elusive. While two recent Washington Court of Appeals decisions did not solve this issue for…

Workers’ compensation practitioners had their own version of “Super Bowl Sunday” this past week when the Supreme Court of Oregon heard oral arguments May 11 in SAIF’s appeal of Brown v. SAIF.[1] Brown, as many know, dramatically altered the landscape when processing combined condition claims and represented a significant departure from well-established legal precedent. The…

On June 5, 2014 the Washington Court of Appeals published a decision that affects time-loss calculations for workers receiving the maximum time-loss rate, specifically holding that workers receiving the maximum time-loss rate in 2011 are entitled to a recalculation/increase despite the 2011 cost of living adjustment (COLA) freeze. To understand the Court’s decision, background information…

Claim resolution structured settlement agreements (CRSSA) were adopted by the Washington legislature in 2011 and launched in 2012. CRSSA proponents anticipated the program would create a significant savings for the Department of Labor and Industries. However, the Department’s 2013 Report to the Legislature admitted the CRSSA program’s projected two-year savings ($405 million) was overestimated by…

The Oregon Court of Appeals recently departed from established legal precedent after adopting an “incident focused” approach to defining a worker’s “compensable injury.” On May 7, 2014 the Oregon Court of Appeals issued its decision in Royce L. Brown, Sr., vs. SAIF Corporation, ____ P.3d ____, 2014, 2014 WL 1819826 (2014) (case number to be assigned), reversing decisions by the Workers’ Compensation Board and the ALJ below that upheld SAIF Corporation’s denial of the worker’s combined condition.