Fire Fighters Local 452 celebrated a major win April 1 when the City of Vancouver ended its self-insured workers compensation insurance program and enrolled in the public workers compensation insurance run by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I).
That might sound like a dry bureaucratic switch, but it could mean injured firefighters and other city employees will less likely have to lawyer up to get workers compensation benefits they’re entitled to.
IAFF Local 452 political director Kevin Hart says the problem with employer self-insurance is that there’s too much incentive to deny claims in order to save money. Hart will never forget one of the most outrageous examples: A member was told by the city’s third-party administrator that he had cancer on his lung, not lung cancer, and the city fought his workers comp claim. Firefighters face greatly elevated risks of cancers from on-the-job exposure to burning plastics and other toxins. Their illnesses are covered by workers comp because state law presumes when they contract cancers, workplace exposure was the cause.
“We’ve got to start taking this seriously, look into what’s going on and see what changes can we make legislatively,” Hart told the Labor Press.
Vancouver has been self-insured since 1977. Its switch to L&I for workers comp was the culmination of 12 years of campaigning by Hart and Local 452. The change was supported by all the unions representing City of Vancouver employees.
Vancouver City Council approved the switch last fall, and it took effect April 1.
The city’s self-insurance plan and its third-party administrator Eberle Vivian will still process existing claims, but new claims will be handled by L&I as the old program winds down
