Contact:
E-mail
Olympia
PO Box 40121
Olympia, WA 98504-0121
Seattle
800 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2000
Seattle, WA 98104
The Labor and Industries Division is comprised of 49 attorneys and 55 professional staff in Olympia and Seattle. There is someone handling L&I litigation at every AGO location, but the Labor and Industries Division has primary responsibility for assigning cases and providing advice to the Department.
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The division provides litigation support and legal advice to the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I). The members of this division handle a high volume of industrial insurance cases, and cases involving workplace safety, wage claims, labor issues, contractor and building issues, and crime victims claims.
On average, the division handles more than 500 disputed appeals on industrial insurance claims per month, and the cases present complex medical, vocational and legal issues. Approximately 35 percent of these appeals are resolved by paralegals through a mediation process. In fiscal year 2006, individual attorney caseloads represented $358,007,559 in exposure to the state’s industrial insurance funds. Division attorneys also represent L&I in regulatory actions and provide client advice. Attorneys practice before the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals and in the superior courts. There is also a significant volume of appellate work. The work is challenging and important to the welfare of the state.
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Ball-Foster Glass Container Co. v. Giovanelli & DLI: Senior Counsel Beverly Norwood Goetz was successful in arguing for acceptance of a “traveling employee rule” for Washington’s Industrial Insurance system at the Washington Supreme Court. This case establishes the rule that when an employee is traveling in furtherance of his or her employer’s interests the employee is covered for any injuries that occur—even if the injury occurs when the employee is away from the workplace. In this case Mr. Giovanelli traveled for his employer from Pennsylvania to Washington to work on a glass furnace, and was injured during the weekend while crossing the street by his hotel. This is a significant development in our state’s workers’ compensation law.
Morin v. Horrell: AAG Anastasia Sandstrom received an outstanding decision from the Washington Supreme Court on the issue of whether parties to a private wage dispute could challenge an initiative passed in 1988. The initiative changed minimum wage act coverage by creating an exclusion for “casual labor” in place of the former exclusion for “domestic service.” The Court determined that the initiative could not be challenged after the Legislature had amended the act several times. In addition to the exclusionary change , the initiative had also placed agricultural workers under the state’s minimum wage laws, so this was a very important case for the state and the state’s workers.
Lee’s Drywall Co. v. DLI: AAG James S. Johnson represented DLI in the first appellate challenge to the state’s “prime contractor liability” law. The Court of Appeals Division II affirmed that when a prime contractor has hired a subcontractor who has not paid Industrial Insurance premiums, DLI may seek repayment of the premiums from the prime contractor. This is an important case in the state’s efforts to battle the underground economy and provide a fair and competitive marketplace in the construction industry. This case will save the state money, and it gives contractors a strong incentive to hire subcontractors who are paying their taxes and complying with state laws.
Schram Excavating: AAG Susan DanPullo and Paralegal Michelle Lacy settled this case involving criminal penalties against an employer who failed to pay proper wages to employees and failed to pay Industrial Insurance premiums. After extensive negotiations, the employer agreed that Jerry Schram would plead guilty to a gross misdemeanor, Prohibited Acts of an Employer under RCW 49.46.100, and that Jimmy Schram would plead guilty to a misdemeanor under RCW 49,28.010, relating to payment of prevailing wages. Jerry Schram will serve jail time and both will perform significant community service or home monitoring, as well as probation, and both must have no contact with victims., The company, Schram Excavating, will plead guilty to one felony of false reporting of employee hours or payroll under RCW 51.48.020. The Schrams also agreed to pay a total of $350,000 to the Department. $75,000 will go to workers who came forward and established they are owed money for unpaid overtime. Approximately $75,000 will go toward the misrepresentation penalty. The rest of the money will be attributed to unpaid premiums, late fees and interest. This mediated outcome resulted in significant recoveries for the state and for employees who had been harmed by the company’s practices.
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