Your AWC government relations team was busy with many important policies that received attention this session. Some policies that made the cut this year include concepts that have been tried and failed in past years.

On the workers’ compensation front, two important bills made the cut. The passage of HB 1068 allows injured employees to record their independent medical exam and is a concept that has been around for several sessions. HB 1521 creates a duty of “good faith” for municipal employers that are self-insured for workers’ compensation and defines “violations” to include coercing an injured worker to accept less than the compensation due to the worker. Penalties include fines and possible decertification of self-insured status for repeat violators. AWC opposed this bill on behalf of the 18 cities that are self-insured employers, and ultimately negotiated a compromise to avoid the creation of a private right of action and keep enforcement within the Department of Labor & Industries.

Several bills addressed what information must be shared between employers and unions, with the main ones favoring employees and unions. HB 1200 creates a new requirement that public employers share certain employee records, like contact information, with public employee unions. AWC became neutral on this bill after it was amended to extend the timelines to more reasonable intervals. Another bill, HB 1187, creates a new legal privilege (like attorney-client or doctor-patient privilege) between unions and represented employees. AWC was neutral on the concept of confidentiality between workers and their union, but expressed concerns that the bill’s language is too broad and will unfairly disadvantage employers in court and interfere with an employer’s ability to manage staff and investigate misconduct. Both HB 1200 and HB 1187 passed this year.

Another information sharing bill, HB 1320, would have required employers to provide employees with their complete personnel file upon request within 15 business days or face stiff penalties, a high cost for some smaller cities. In spite of strong labor support, the bill failed to advance in the Senate over concerns raised about the cost to employers, particularly small employers.

Two bills that passed in 2023 aim to improve the state’s popular Paid Family & Medical Leave program. First, SB 5286 changes the way that the Employment Security Department calculates premiums, raises the premiums cap, and makes other changes to address program solvency. The bill adopts the recommendations of the PFML Premiums Task Force, which met last year to address chronic cash flow issues the PFML program is facing. The second bill, SB 5586, is a partial response to long-standing employer requests and allows ESD to share certain employee claims information with employers to help them manage their internal leave programs. It was watered down slightly in response to privacy concerns but should still provide employers access to useful claims data they currently don’t get. AWC supported both bills.

Finally, the legislature did away with a 20-year-old, voter-approved ban on ergonomics rules to prevent musculoskeletal injuries with the passage of SB 5217. The bill does put sideboards on rulemaking however, and only permits L&I to adopt rules for risk classes that are significantly above the state average for musculoskeletal injuries claims. A version of this bill was also considered in 2022.

You can see more about what HR & labor relations bills did and didn’t pass in the 2023 bill chart below.