Title 51 — Title 51 INDUSTRIAL INSURANCE

The common law system governing the remedy of workers against employers for injuries received in employment is inconsistent with modern industrial conditions. In practice it proves to be economically unwise and unfair. Its administration has produced the result that little of the…

The director shall:(1) Establish and adopt rules governing the administration of this title;(2) Ascertain and establish the amounts to be paid into and out of the accident fund;(3) Regulate the proof of accident and extent thereof, the proof of death and the proof of relationship…

(1) There is established an investigation unit within the department for the purpose of detection, investigation, and prosecution of any act prohibited or declared to be unlawful under this title. The director will employ supervisory and investigative personnel for the program, w…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2632.SL) ***(1) The director shall supervise the providing of prompt and efficient care and treatment, including care provided by physician assistants governed by the provisions of chapter 18.71A RCW, including chiropractic care, and including care pro…

(1) The director and his or her authorized assistants have power to issue subpoenas to enforce the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production and examination of books, papers, photographs, tapes, and records before the department in connection with any claim made to…

In all hearings, actions or proceedings before the department or the board of industrial insurance appeals, or before any court on appeal from the board, any health services provider having theretofore examined or treated the claimant may be required to testify fully regarding su…

No employer or worker shall exempt himself or herself from the burden or waive the benefits of this title by any contract, agreement, rule or regulation, and any such contract, agreement, rule or regulation shall be pro tanto void.[ 1977 ex.s. c 350 s 3; 1961 c 23 s 51.04.060. Pr…

The legislature finds that Washington state's workers' compensation system should be designed to focus on achieving the best outcomes for injured workers. Further, the legislature recognizes that controlling pension costs is key to a financially sound workers' compensation system…

(1) Notwithstanding RCW 51.04.060 or any other provision of this title, an injured worker who is at least fifty years of age may choose from the following: (a) To continue to receive all benefits for which they are eligible under this title, (b) to participate in vocational train…

The department must maintain copies of all claim resolution settlement agreements entered into between the parties and furnish copies of such agreements to any party actively negotiating a subsequent claim resolution settlement agreement with the worker on any allowed claim when …

On December 1, 2011, and annually thereafter through December 1, 2014, the department shall report annually to the appropriate committees of the legislature on the implementation of claim resolution settlement agreements. In calendar years 2015, 2019, and 2023, the department sha…

A minor shall be deemed sui juris for the purpose of this title, and no other person shall have any cause of action or right to compensation for an injury to such minor worker, except as expressly provided in this title, but in the event of any disability payments becoming due un…

On all claims under this title, claimants' written notices, orders, or payments must be forwarded directly to the claimant until such time as there has been entered an order on the claim appealable to the board of industrial insurance appeals. Claimants' written notices, orders, …

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 6039-S.SL) ***Any notice or order required by this title to be mailed to any employer may be served in the manner prescribed by law for personal service of summons and complaint in the commencement of actions in the superior courts of the state, but if…

The department may, at any time, on receipt of written authorization, transmit amounts payable to a claimant, beneficiary, or any supplier of goods or services to the account of such person in a bank or other financial institution regulated by state or federal authority.[ 1977 ex…

If any employer shall be adjudicated to be outside the lawful scope of this title, the title shall not apply to him or her or his or her worker, or if any worker shall be adjudicated to be outside the lawful scope of this title because of remoteness of his or her work from the ha…

If the provisions of this title relative to compensation for injuries to or death of workers become invalid because of any adjudication, or be repealed, the period intervening between the occurrence of an injury or death, not previously compensated for under this title by lump pa…

The obligations of all medical aid contracts approved by the supervisor prior to the repeal of any section of this title pertaining to medical aid contracts shall continue until the expiration of such contracts notwithstanding any such repeal and all provisions of this title pert…

The director shall appoint a workers' compensation advisory committee composed of ten members: Three representing subject workers, three representing subject employers, one representing self-insurers, one representing workers of self-insurers, and two ex officio members, without …

Any employer other than a self-insurer subject to this title shall, under such rules as the department shall prescribe, apply for and obtain from the department a certificate of coverage. The certificate shall be personal and nontransferable and shall be valid as long as the empl…

The department of labor and industries upon the request of the secretary of defense of the United States or the secretary of the United States department of energy, may in its discretion approve special insuring agreements providing industrial insurance coverage for workers engag…

The department shall conduct education and outreach to employers on workers' compensation requirements and premium responsibilities, including independent contractor issues. The department shall work with new employers on an individual basis and also establish mass education camp…

(1) The legislature finds that the department is successfully addressing employer fraud and the underground economy, helping ensure that employers who appropriately report and pay premiums can be competitive. Efforts focus on prevention, education, and enforcement by identifying …

(1) The department shall include one or more representatives of logging industry workers on the logger safety task force. In addition, the department shall reach out to all employers in the logging industry, including those having one or more on the job fatalities in the last fiv…

The department may provide information about scholarship opportunities offered by nonprofit organizations and available to children and spouses of workers who suffered an injury in the course of employment resulting in death or permanent total disability. The department may, in i…

(1) The department must establish best practices to improve safety and health outcomes for firefighters, including best practices:(a) For a proactive health and safety risk management system consisting of a joint employer and employee governance structure to oversee a continuous …

(1) The director is authorized to provide funding of up to two percent of the premiums paid in the prior year from the risk classes for firefighters as defined in RCW 41.26.030(17) (a) through (c) for the purposes of providing funding to employers of firefighters who have limited…

(1) In the event of a state of emergency as defined in RCW 43.06.010(12), the director is authorized to expend up to two percent per year of the net premiums earned in the accident fund in the prior fiscal year for the purpose of a safety grant program so long as the assets of th…

(1) The application of this chapter to a transportation network company, as defined in RCW 49.46.300, shall not be indicative of, or considered a factor in determining, the existence of an employer-employee relationship between the transportation network company and driver for pu…

Unless the context indicates otherwise, words used in this title shall have the meaning given in this chapter.[ 1961 c 23 s 51.08.010. Prior: 1939 c 41 s 2, part; 1929 c 132 s 1, part; 1927 c 310 s 2, part; 1921 c 182 s 2, part; 1919 c 131 s 2, part; 1917 c 120 s 1, part; 1911 c …

For the purposes of this title, "accredited school" means a school or course of instruction which is:(1) Approved by the state superintendent of public instruction, the state board of education, the *state board for community college education, or the state division of vocational…

(1) "Acting in the course of employment" means the worker acting at his or her employer's direction or in the furtherance of his or her employer's business which shall include time spent going to and from work on the jobsite, as defined in RCW 51.32.015 and 51.36.040, insofar as …

"Agriculture" means the business of growing or producing any agricultural or horticultural produce or crop, including the raising of any animal, bird, or insect, or the milk, eggs, wool, fur, meat, honey, or other substances obtained therefrom.[ 1971 ex.s. c 289 s 75.]Notes:Effec…

Wherever and whenever in any of the provisions of this title relating to any payments by an employer or worker the words "amount" and/or "amounts," "payment" and/or "payments," "premium" and/or "premiums," "contribution" and/or "contributions," and "assessment" and/or "assessment…

For purposes of this title, the average monthly wage in the state shall be the average annual wage as determined under RCW 50.04.355 as now or hereafter amended divided by twelve.[ 1977 ex.s. c 323 s 3; 1971 ex.s. c 289 s 15.]Notes:Severability—Effective date—1977 ex.s. c 323: Se…

"Beneficiary" means a husband, wife, child, or dependent of a worker in whom shall vest a right to receive payment under this title: PROVIDED, That a husband or wife of an injured worker, living separate and apart in a state of abandonment, regardless of the party responsible the…

"Child" means every natural born child, posthumous child, stepchild, child legally adopted prior to the injury, child born after the injury where conception occurred prior to the injury, and dependent child in the legal custody and control of the worker, all while under the age o…

"Department" means department of labor and industries.[ 1961 c 23 s 51.08.040.]Notes:Department of labor and industries: Chapter 43.22 RCW.

"Dependent" means any of the following named relatives of a worker whose death results from any injury and who leaves surviving no widow, widower, or child, viz: Father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, grandson, granddaughter, brother, sister, half-siste…

"Director" means the director of labor and industries.[ 1961 c 23 s 51.08.060.]

(1) "Employer" means any person, body of persons, corporate or otherwise, and the legal representatives of a deceased employer, all while engaged in this state in any work covered by the provisions of this title, by way of trade or business, or who contracts with one or more work…

"Health services provider" or "provider" means any person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, agency, institution, or other legal entity providing any kind of services related to the treatment of an industrially injured worker.[ 1986 c 200 s 12.]

"Injury" means a sudden and tangible happening, of a traumatic nature, producing an immediate or prompt result, and occurring from without, and such physical conditions as result therefrom.[ 1961 c 23 s 51.08.100. Prior: 1959 c 308 s 3; 1957 c 70 s 12; prior: 1939 c 41 s 2, part;…

"Invalid" means one who is physically or mentally incapacitated from earning.[ 1961 c 23 s 51.08.110. Prior: 1957 c 70 s 13; prior: 1939 c 41 s 2, part; 1929 c 132 s 1, part; 1927 c 310 s 2, part; 1921 c 182 s 2, part; 1919 c 131 s 2, part; 1917 c 120 s 1, part; 1911 c 74 s 3, pa…

"New medical issue" means a medical issue not covered by a previous medical examination requested by the department or the self-insurer such as an issue regarding medical causation, medical treatment, work restrictions, or evaluating permanent partial disability.[ 2020 c 213 s 1.…

"Occupational disease" means such disease or infection as arises naturally and proximately out of employment under the mandatory or elective adoption provisions of this title.[ 1961 c 23 s 51.08.140. Prior: 1959 c 308 s 4; 1957 c 70 s 16; prior: 1951 c 236 s 1; 1941 c 235 s 1, pa…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2034-S2.SL) ***(1) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, the department shall adopt a rule pursuant to chapter 34.05 RCW that claims based on mental conditions or mental disabilities caused by stress do not fall within the defi…

"Permanent partial disability" means the loss of either one foot, one leg, one hand, one arm, one eye, one or more fingers, one or more toes, any dislocation where ligaments were severed where repair is not complete, or any other injury known in surgery to be permanent partial di…

"Permanent total disability" means loss of both legs, or arms, or one leg and one arm, total loss of eyesight, paralysis or other condition permanently incapacitating the worker from performing any work at any gainful occupation.[ 1977 ex.s. c 350 s 13; 1961 c 23 s 51.08.160. Pri…

"Posttraumatic stress disorder" means a disorder that meets the diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress specified by the American psychiatric association in the diagnostic and statistics manual of mental disorders, fifth edition, or in a later edition as adopted by the depar…