In a divided decision, the Supreme Court of Washington held that a staffing agency might, at least in some circumstances, be liable for the borrowing employer’s safety violations under the state’s Industrial Safety and Health Act (WISHA) if the agency...
Applying what it said was the "economic realities test," a Washington appellate court found that a borrowing employer had exercised sufficient control over the borrowed employee that the employee staffing company supplying the worker should not be liable...
A Washington jury could appropriately determine that at the time of a worker's injury, he was so intoxicated that he had abandoned his employment, where evidence indicated the worker's blood alcohol level was substantially above the legal limit, held a...
Where a worker entered into a contract with a labor broker that specified that the worker would be subject to the control of the firm to which he was assigned, that the firm to which he was assigned would be considered his “special employer,” that he...
A defendant's contention that as an employer it was immune from tort liability in a civil action filed against it by an employee did not speak to the Washington trial court's subject matter jurisdiction, held a state appellate court. Accordingly, its motion...
A Washington appellate court recently affirmed an assessment of almost $1 million in workers’ compensation premiums, penalties, and interest against a Seattle delivery service company that had argued its drivers were independent contractors and not employees...
Stressing that in Washington, the proof of medical causation related to an occupational disease does not require “magic words,” the Supreme Court of Washington affirmed a lower court decision that sustained an award of workers’ compensation benefits...
DOL Announces Adjustment of Civil Penalty Fines . CA: DWC Accepting Applications for QME Examination on Oct. 29 . CA: WCIRB President’s Message About 2016 Achievements, Plans Ahead . CA: Class Action Says WC System Has Bias Against Women . HI: State...
Comp Insurance Profitable, At Least For the Moment . CA: DWC Posts Interim Report on Evidence-Based Comp Drug Formulary . CA: WCIRB Submits 1/1/2017 Regulatory Filing . CA: WCIRB Releases Report on 2015 Losses and Expenses . CA: Settlement May Net Lyft...
Injuries sustained by a sales manager for a beverage distributor in an auto accident as he and a co-employee returned home at 1:00 a.m., after delivering beer more than six hours earlier to one of their employer’s restaurant customers, and also after consuming...
Senators Slam Obama Directive for Sick U.S. Nuclear Workers . AK: WCD Posts Director’s Interpretation on Issues Impacting Medical Fee Schedule . AZ: Governor Signs SB 1323 Pro Se Vexatious Litigant . CA: WCAB Chairman Ronnie Caplane to Retire From State...
In a class action lawsuit by farmworkers against four corporate defendants, the Supreme Court of Washington answered two certified questions submitted by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Regarding the first question, the Court held that under Wash. Rev. Code...
Lyft Settles Calif. Lawsuit for $12.5M, Drivers Still Not Classified as Employees . Price Wars Between Insurers and Drug Companies Impact Patients’ Healthcare . AMA Recommends Changes to CDC’s Proposed Opioid Prescription Policy . AK: WCD Posts...
Injured Worker Left Out in the Cold by ERISA Surviving on Social Security Disability . Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index 2016 Reports $62B in U.S. Workers Comp Costs . USDOL Issues Guidance on Joint Employment Under FLSA, MSPA . News Investigation: Temp...
ProPublica Examines Power, Wealth of Middlemen at Workers Comp Conferences . CDC Reports Increase in Drug, Opioid Overdose Deaths in U.S. 2000-2014 . CDC Opens Comment Period for Proposed 2016 Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain . NIOSH Examines...