Support Senate Bill 5112: Granting Scheduling Authority for Qualified Retro Plans

Please ACT NOW! The Washington State Senate is expected to vote on Senate Bill 5112 early next week. Please send your Senator a message urging him to support 5112.

Bottom line: SB 5112 is a common sense bill that allows experienced Retro claims managers to schedule Independent Medical Examinations (IMEs) for injured workers reducing LNI caseloads and reducing delays in the system and expediting benefits.

Reasons this bill has been continued to be proposed for many years:

Workers wait months on end for money they are entitled to as LNI has caseloads triple industry standard and is unable to take timely actions.

Employers and workers in the State Fund regardless of Retro affiliation suffer LNI rate impact for 3 years on one claim when LNI doesn’t take timely action. For construction if a firm is at 1.0 or above the business can’t bid work on some projects which precludes their ability to procure work and keep employees in a job.

For vocational referrals employers know when light duty will end or whether or not the employer can offer a full time modified job. These benefits could be offered more timely to the worker. While all employers can offer light duty LNI’s own data reflect it is Retro employers that do the lion share of light duty as reflected in Stay at Work statistics. Offering Retro employers this scheduling tool would allow LNI to take more timely action on non-Retro claims.

Urge your Senator to Support Senate Bill 5112.

If you have questions on these bills please call the AGC Legislative office at 360.352.5000.