Potter v. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND IND.

**Potter v. Department of Labor and Industries: Court Allows Retroactive Benefit Offset** This case involved a dispute between a worker named Potter and Washington's Department of Labor and Industries over disability benefits. Potter had received both state disability benefits and Social Security disability benefits for the same time period. The Department later discovered this overlap and wanted to reduce Potter's past state benefits by the amount she had already received from Social Security - essentially clawing back money she had already been paid. Potter sued, claiming the Department couldn't retroactively reduce benefits she had already received. A lower court initially agreed with Potter, but the Washington Court of Appeals reversed that decision. The appeals court ruled that the Department was legally allowed to offset Potter's past-due state disability benefits by subtracting the Social Security payments she received during the same period. **What this means for workers:** If you receive disability benefits from multiple sources (state and federal), government agencies may be able to reduce your benefits retroactively if they discover an overpayment or duplication. Workers should carefully track all disability payments and understand that agencies may reconcile benefits even after they've been paid, potentially requiring repayment of excess amounts.