For most Washington State workers injured on or before July 1, 2015, time-loss and pension benefit payments were to increase by 2.6 percent based on the change in the state’s average wage, as announced by the Department of Employment Security.
State law requires that benefits be recalculated each year to reflect the change in the state’s average wage from the previous calendar year.
The increase also applies to pension benefits paid to family members of those who died because of a work-related accident or disease.
As a result of the increase, the new maximum monthly benefit will be $5,627.30, or 120 percent of the state’s average monthly wage.
The increase was to become effective July 1, 2016.
There are some exceptions:
- Certain injured workers who also receive federal Social Security benefits may not be entitled to this annual cost-of-living increase.
- Most workers with an injury date between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 will receive their first COLA on July 1, 2017.
Author Kori Shafer-Stack, Editor, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in post-injury response procedures and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: [email protected].
©2014 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.
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