Hurt at work in Washington? Deadlines, weekly benefit and how to file

Tell your employer, superintendent or supervisor right away ('forthwith') when you are injured on the job or diagnosed with an occupational disease. File your claim within 1 year.

Time-loss pays a percentage of your gross monthly wages that depends on your family. Pay is up to $9,981 a month (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027).

Your employer's insurer, not the state, usually decides first. If they deny or delay, the free help listed here can explain your options.

In Washington, time-loss compensation pays part of your wages while your doctor says you cannot work because of a work injury or occupational disease. Most workers are covered by the state fund run by L&I, which manages the claim; about one-third work for self-insured employers, which manage their own claims under L&I oversight.

What are my deadlines?How much will I get?Who is my doctor?Claim denied?

Checked against official sources: October 31, 2026.

Deadlines are strict. If you are near one, call the state agency or free help today.

Free tools for Washington

Free tools that run in your browser. Nothing you enter is saved or sent until you download, copy or print a document.

Deadline helper

Worked out in your browser. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent.

If you are not sure of the exact day, use the earliest day you think it could be.

Enter the date of injury

We add the number from the law to your date. Nothing is saved.

Written notice to your employer

A letter that tells your employer, in writing, that you were hurt or made sick by your work.

Where the reply should be sent.

Required when you mail it. Not needed if you hand it in person.

In your own words, in English. Keep it short and factual. Do not guess why it happened.

It goes into the letter as you type it.

Other formats

Claim checklist: what to gather and do

A printable list of papers to keep and steps to take.

What you already have

Washington
Other formats

Your checklist

Deadlines in Washington

Tell your employer

Tell your employer, superintendent or supervisor right away ('forthwith') when you are injured on the job or diagnosed with an occupational disease.

File your claim
1 year
Waiting period

Time-loss is not paid for the day you were injured or the 3 days after it, unless you are still disabled 7 days after the injury.

All the details →

Weekly benefit in Washington

Maximum
$9,981 a month (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027)
Minimum
$1,247.63 a month (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027)
Minimum rule

The minimum is 15% of the state's average monthly wage, plus $10 a month for a spouse or registered domestic partner and $10 for each dependent child (up to 5; for single workers up to 6). If that minimum would be more than your full wages, you receive the greater of your monthly wages or the minimum that applied on June 30, 2008.

Law: $1,247.63 a month for injuries from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027

Applies to
Maximum: time-loss paid from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 (all injuries on or after July 1, 1996); minimum: injuries from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027

Time-loss pays a percentage of your gross monthly wages that depends on your family.

Law: RCW 51.32.060(1)-(2), (6), 51.32.090(1), (9), 51.08.178

Source: app.leg.wa.gov

We do not offer a calculator for Washington: its rule has parts that a simple estimate cannot show. Read the rule above and ask the state agency.

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Who is your doctor in Washington?

Who chooses
You use the employer's network
Network
L&I Medical Provider Network (find a doctor at www.Lni.wa.gov/FindADoc)

You have the right to choose your doctor. For your first visit (or an emergency room visit) you may see any qualified provider. For ongoing care you must be treated by a provider in the L&I Medical Provider Network. You may see a company doctor if you wish, but you do not have to, and you can decline to have a company nurse or employer representative come with you to medical visits.

You may change doctors. Tell L&I online with the Transfer of Care service or on the Transfer of Care form (F245-037-000). The new provider must be in the L&I network (unless you are treated out of state). If your employer is self-insured, get its approval before changing providers.

Law: RCW 51.36.010(2)

Source: app.leg.wa.gov

Who is covered in Washington

Size of employer

Washington law covers all employment in the state except the specific jobs the law lists. Employers must insure through the L&I state fund or be approved by L&I to self-insure; private workers' compensation insurance is not sold for this coverage.

Special rules
  • Domestic workers in a private home: A domestic servant in a private home is not covered if the employer has fewer than 2 employees regularly working 40 or more hours a week in that work.
Not covered
  • Domestic workers in a private home whose employer has fewer than 2 full-time domestic employees
  • Gardening, maintenance or repair work at the employer's private home
  • Work that is not part of the employer's business and not at the employer's home
  • Sole proprietors, partners, and certain corporate officers and LLC members (they may elect coverage)
  • Children under 18 working on their parents' family farm
  • Newspaper carriers and vendors, freelance news correspondents
  • Licensed insurance producers, booth renters, and certain musicians or entertainers hired for a specific engagement
  • Taxi, limousine and for-hire drivers who own or lease their vehicle
  • Federal employees, longshore and harbor workers, railroad workers and seamen are covered by federal programs, sometimes in addition to state law
Contractors

The law aims to cover all employment, and only the jobs listed in the law are excluded. Calling a worker an independent contractor does not by itself remove coverage; L&I decides coverage based on the actual work relationship.

If your employer has no insurance

File your claim with L&I as usual, even if you are not sure your employer had coverage. You can look up a business on L&I's Verify tool. The law lets L&I charge an employer that had not secured coverage a penalty of 50% to 100% of the cost of the injury.

Check your employer's insurance

Law: RCW 51.12.010, 51.12.020, 51.48.010

Source: app.leg.wa.gov

If your claim is denied or delayed in Washington

First step

Decisions on your claim come as a written 'Order and Notice'. If you disagree, send L&I a written protest (online through the Claim & Account Center or by mail) with your name and claim number on every page, within 60 days of receiving the decision.

Form
Notice of Appeal to the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals (online or paper)

All the details →

Fired or punished for filing in Washington

Your employer may not fire you or discriminate against you in any way because you filed a claim, told your employer you intend to file one, or used any rights under the workers' compensation law. An employer may still act for other reasons, such as not following safety rules.

The law
RCW 51.48.025
What you may get

The superior court can stop the violation and order relief such as rehiring or reinstatement with back pay.

Where to file

File a discrimination complaint with L&I. L&I investigates and, within 90 days, tells you its decision; if it finds a violation it sues in superior court. If L&I finds no violation, you may sue on your own.

Deadline

Within 90 days of the date of the violation.

Law: RCW 51.48.025

Source: app.leg.wa.gov

Lawyers' fees and other benefits in Washington

You do not need an attorney to protest an L&I decision. Attorney fees are limited by law to 30% of any increased benefit you receive (15% of a structured settlement). L&I or the Board will set a reasonable fee on request.

Washington also pays loss of earning power benefits if you return to work at lower pay, permanent partial disability awards, a pension for permanent total disability, vocational services, survivor benefits, and some travel and property-damage costs. Time-loss and pensions get a yearly cost-of-living increase each July 1.

Free help in Washington

State agency

Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I), Insurance Services (workers' compensation)

Phone
1-800-547-8367
Look up your case

Free help

Good to know in Washington

  • Washington is one of the few states where workers' compensation is provided by a state fund (L&I) or by employers that self-insure; private insurance companies do not sell it.
  • If your employer offers a light-duty job that your doctor approves, you must accept it to keep receiving time-loss benefits.
  • If you return to work at lower pay, loss of earning power benefits are 80% of the difference between your old and new earnings, if the loss is more than 5%.

Changes in 2024–2026

2024 c 144 (effective July 1, 2025) shortened the period after which the 3 waiting days are paid back from 14 to 7 consecutive days of disability. 2025 c 168 (effective July 1, 2026) set a new time-loss and pension percentage schedule for injuries on or after July 1, 2026 that treats a spouse the same as one child (60% to 75%) and pays 2% of wages to the person with legal custody of a worker's child. From July 1, 2026 the monthly maximum is $9,981.00 and the minimum 15% figure is $1,247.63 (L&I Self-Insurance bulletin, June 26, 2026).

Law: RCW 51.32.090(7); RCW 51.32.010, 51.32.060

Questions about workers' comp in Washington

How long do I have to file a workers' comp claim in Washington?

L&I or your self-insured employer must receive your Report of Accident within 1 year after the day you were injured.

How much does workers' comp pay in Washington?

Time-loss pays a percentage of your gross monthly wages that depends on your family. Pay is up to $9,981 a month (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027).

Can I choose my own doctor for a work injury in Washington?

You have the right to choose your doctor. For your first visit (or an emergency room visit) you may see any qualified provider.

Can my employer fire me for filing a workers' comp claim in Washington?

Your employer may not fire you or discriminate against you in any way because you filed a claim, told your employer you intend to file one, or used any rights under the workers' compensation law.

What if my workers' comp claim is denied in Washington?

Decisions on your claim come as a written 'Order and Notice'. If you disagree, send L&I a written protest (online through the Claim & Account Center or by mail) with your name and claim number on every page, within 60 days of receiving the decision.

Not about a work injury?

Not about a work injury? Unpaid wages → Wage Claim Map · Hurt in a car crash → Accident Claim Map · A medical bill → Medical Bill Map · Unemployment benefits → Unemployment Claim Map · Other problems → robinclaim.com

Nearby states

Sources