SECOND INJURY FUND (RCW 51.16.120)
Authority to reimburse self-insured employer for overpayment of time-loss compensation benefits
When the self-insured employer has previously paid time-loss compensation benefits for a period after the effective date of the pension, the Department's authority to use the second injury fund for pension payment includes the authority to reimburse the self-insured employer from the second injury fund for payment of the total disability benefits. Recoupment or offset of the overpayment of total disability benefits is the responsibility of the Department of Labor and Industries. .…Frederic Cuendet, 99 21825 (2001)
Bodily disorder
The term "bodily disorder", as used in RCW 51.16.120, includes a pre-existing personality disorder. ....Lance Bartran, 04 21232 (2005)
Continuing medical benefit
The pension was awarded with second injury fund relief available to the self-insured employer and continuing medical treatment for the worker. Because the second injury fund is not funded to provide for medical benefits, the ongoing medical treatment is the responsibility of the self-insured employer. ….Crella Boudon, 98 17459 (2000) [Editor's Note: The Board's decision was appealed to superior court in King County, Cause No. 00-2-05182-4KNT]
Date of charge against pension reserve
Where the evidence indicates second injury fund relief is appropriate, the self-insured employer is entitled to have the pension reserve charged against the second injury fund as of the date of onset of the worker's permanent total disability, not the date the Department identified as the date it was placing the worker on the pension rolls. ....Harold McCormack, 90 3178 (1992)
Jurisdiction
If the Department had not had the opportunity to address the issue of Second Injury Fund relief it is inappropriate to make a finding of fact that but for pre-existing conditions the industrial injury-related condition would not have rendered the worker permanently totally disabled. ....Janet Lord, 93 6147 (1996)
Knowledge of disabling condition
Prior to a 1984 statutory change to RCW 51.16.120 there was no requirement, other than Department policy, that the employer have knowledge of a worker's pre-existing disability in order to qualify for second injury fund relief. The 1984 change was a clarification and employer knowledge is not a prerequisite to qualification for relief from the fund. ….Marshall Powell, 97 6424 (1999)[Editor's Note: The Board's decision was appealed to superior court under King County Cause No. 99-2-18528-5SEA.]
Permanent partial disability payment (RCW 51.16.120(1))
RCW 51.16.120 requires a self-insured employer to pay the full amount due without deduction for any advances made by the self-insured employer to the claimant. The fact that the claimant owes the self-insured employer money for the advance does not relieve the employer from paying its full obligation to the Department to help fund the pension. ….Debra Jarvis, 10 14734 (2011)
Pursuant to RCW 51.16.120(1) a self-insured employer is liable only for the accident costs that would have resulted solely from the industrial injury, had there been no pre-existing disability. When the employer has previously paid a permanent partial disability award to the worker, the employer will not be required to pay a like amount into the pension reserve after a determination that the worker is permanently totally disabled and second injury fund benefits are authorized. ….Fred Dupre, 97 4784 (1999)
Pre-existing disability
*When the worker dies from complications related to surgery required by the industrial injury, a pre-existing disease that causes a significant disability in the body's ability to withstand the surgery is a pre-existing disability for purposes of second injury fund relief. ....Clemma Varner, Dec'd., 06 11288 (2007)
The mere existence of pre-existing conditions not sufficient to establish that there was a pre-existing disability for purposes of application of second injury fund relief. The record must establish that the pre-existing conditions were disabling. ....Leonard Norgren, 04 18211 (2006)
To qualify for second injury fund relief, an employer must establish that the disability resulting from the injury would not have been total but for the pre-existing conditions (Jussila v. Department of Labor & Indus., 59 Wn.2d 772, 370 P.2d 582 (1962)). The legislature's reference "from the combined effects thereof" requires a factual finding that the previous injury or disease was an actual cause of the total disability. A pre-existing condition is not necessarily a pre-existing disability, particularly where a worker performs all tasks required of him up to the time of his injury. Jussila; Lyle, Inc. v. Department of Labor & Indus., 66 Wn.2d 745, 405 P.2d 251 (1965). ....Alfred Funk, 89 4156 (1991)
Time loss compensation
Second injury fund relief is not available to an employer for the amount of time loss compensation paid to a worker prior to a determination of permanent total disability. ....Raymond Mitchell, 17,962 (1963)