OLYMPIA – Rep. Adison Richards’ first bill off the house floor corrects a decades long inequity in our state’s workers’ compensation system. House Bill 1788 adjusts the time-loss rate, paid to workers when they are injured on the job, to pay an injured worker with a child at the same rate as an injured worker with a spouse.
“On-the-job accidents devastate families,” Richards said. “This bill will provide some relief by ensuring that regardless of family structure, folks will be compensated at the same rate so they are better able to pay the bills and put food on the table while trying to recover.”
Currently, when a single parent is injured on the job, they receive 3 percent less in workers’ comp benefits than married workers.. This legislation corrects that.
“Working families all look different,” Richards said. “This is a step toward fairness for all families.”