District Considers Work Comp 'Parity' Rule

Wednesday, June 8, 2022 | 0

District councilors in Washington, D.C., are considering a resolution that would allow people to receive workers’ compensation benefits from other states without automatically being precluded from receiving benefits under the district’s comp laws.

Bill B24-0841, introduced by Councilor Mary M. Cheh, would amend D.C. comp code to provide that “payment or award of compensation under the workers’ compensation law of any other state shall not bar a claim for compensation under the district’s workers’ compensation law for the same injury or death; provided that any such award under the district’s workers’ compensation law shall be reduced by the amount of compensation received or awarded under the workers’ compensation law of any other state.”

Under Official Code 32-1506, workers who receive benefits from another state are precluded from bringing a claim in D.C.

The law has been “strictly interpreted” by the courts and effectively allows employers and carriers to choose which state law will apply to comp claims, according to a summary included in accompanying Council Resolution PR24-0783. For example, when an employer or carrier files the first report of injury in another state and writes the worker a check for any amount, the worker is effectively locked out of the D.C. comp system.

“Although an injured worker could maintain the ability to bring a claim in the district by rejecting payment, injured workers are typically not in a position to do so when such payments are needed to cover medical expenses or other bills — and often do not know that accepting payment will bar them from any recovery in the district,” the resolution says.

D.C. comp laws “are generally more favorable for injured workers than those in neighboring Maryland and Virginia,” according to the resolution.

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