An amendment to Washington state workers’ compensation law for employees of contractors at the Hanford Site takes effect July 28.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed the bill last week to further ease requirements for approval of state workers’ compensation claims, even as the Department of Justice sues to have the underlying bill declared unconstitutional.
Last year, the state Legislature passed legislation that shifts the burden of proof for compensation claims from Hanford contractor personnel to the Department of Energy. The law, which took effect in June 2018, requires the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries to presume that many cancers and all respiratory and neurological diseases suffered by these employees were caused by working at areas of Hanford involved in plutonium production or environmental cleanup unless the Energy Department can prove otherwise. Previously, workers had to show that an exposure caused their illness.
The Energy Department is self-insured for state workers’ compensation claims by Hanford contractor workers or their survivors, but Labor and Industries rules on those claims.
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson requested the law be amended in this year’s legislative session after it became apparent that not all workers had received a qualifying medical exam when they started at Hanford. The new law covered cancer claims if an exam at the start of employment showed the new worker did not have cancer. The amendment lifts the requirement if no medical exam was given.
The Department of Justice sued the state in federal court in December, asking that the state law be declared a violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Justice Department says the state law improperly seeks to regulate the U.S. government and discriminates against the government by holding it to a stricter standard than most other entities in the state.
Most workers in Washington state must prove that workplace conditions caused an illness or injury to have a compensation claim approved. However, under the new state law, the federal government is given the burden of proof for its Hanford contractor claims.
The state of Washington has asked that the federal lawsuit be dismissed, saying Congress gave it the right to protect employees of federal contractors. It also said that DOE approved a new workers’ compensation agreement with the state, agreeing to abide by state law, shortly after the new Hanford workers’ compensation law took effect.
A hearing on the federal lawsuit is set for May 22 in the federal courthouse in Richland, Wash. The judge will hear arguments from the federal government to overturn the state law on summary judgment without proceeding to trial. The court also will hear arguments from Washington state asking that the Justice Department lawsuit be dismissed.
