The U.S. Department of Justice and Washington state have agreed that a federal lawsuit over a new state law easing workers’ compensation requirements for ill Hanford Site workers likely can be resolved without a trial. Both have told the court they plan to file motions for summary judgment in the case.
Judge Stanley Bastian, of U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, responded to the filings with a schedule that requires the Justice Department to file its motion for summary judgment by March 1 and Washington to file its cross-motion for summary judgment by March 22. A hearing on the motions, which could result in a decision in the case, is set for May 8.
In a Dec. 10 lawsuit, the Justice Department asked the court to overturn a new state law intended to allow more ill Hanford workers or their survivors to win approval of state compensation claims from the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries.
In March 2018, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed legislation requiring the state agency to presume that a wide range of health conditions suffered by individuals were caused by their work at the former plutonium production complex that is now undergoing a massive Department of Energy environmental cleanup program. Covered health conditions include neurological and respiratory illnesses and many cancers.
The law means Hanford workers no longer have to demonstrate a connection between their health problems and time at Hanford, even just a single eight-hour workday. There is no time limit on when workers or former workers can apply under the eased compensation rules for most covered conditions.
The Justice Department says the state law violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. It attempts to directly regulate the federal government and holds it to a stricter standard than other entities in the state, according to the lawsuit. “It singles out DOE, its contractors, and the federally owned and operated portions of Hanford for a substantially more burdensome and costly workers’ compensation scheme,” the Justice Department said.
The Energy Department is self-insured and pays the cost of approved claims.
The lawsuit asked that the court declare the state law invalid, enjoin its enforcement, and award the federal government costs of the proceeding. Washington on Jan. 9 requested that the DOJ case be dismissed and that the state be granted attorney fees and other legal costs.
Meanwhile, Washington state lawmakers are considering amending the law to help more Hanford workers. The law as passed says the presumption that Hanford caused a cancer is only valid if the medical exam given when the employee began work at the site showed no evidence of cancer.
However, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson subsequently learned that not all contractor and subcontractor employees were given the medical exam before starting work. Ferguson’s proposed amendment makes clear that workers not checked for cancer as they started at Hanford would still be eligible for eased compensation for cancer claims.
The amendment has passed the state House of Representatives and next will be considered in committee in the Senate. From the time the new law took effect in June through early January, when statistics were most recently compiled, the state had received 92 workers’ compensation claims, with 35 approved and eight denied. Decisions on the rest were pending.
