Hyatt v. Department of Labor & Industries

**What Happened** A group of workers filed a case against Washington's Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) because they wanted their workers' compensation payments recalculated. The workers argued that their time-loss compensation should include the value of health care benefits their employer provided, which would have increased their payments. They based this request on a change in court rulings that seemed to support including these benefits in compensation calculations. **The Court's Decision** The appellate court ruled against the workers and sided with L&I. The court said that because the workers had not challenged their original L&I compensation orders when they were first issued, those orders became final and could not be changed later. The court also determined that simply because other court cases had changed the legal interpretation, this didn't qualify as a "change of circumstances" that would allow the workers to reopen their cases under state law. **What This Means for Workers** This ruling shows how important it is for workers to challenge workers' compensation decisions immediately when they disagree with them. Once you accept an L&I order without protest, it becomes very difficult to change later, even if court rulings in other cases might support your position. Workers should carefully review their compensation decisions and seek help promptly if they believe the amounts are incorrect.