Washington Administrative Code › Title 296 - Labor and Industries, Department of › Chapter 296-62 - General occupational health standards › Part I - AIR CONTAMINANTS (SPECIFIC) › Section 296-62-07629 - Medical removal protection benefits

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
(1)
				 Provisions of medical removal protection benefits. The employer
				must provide to an employee up to six months of medical removal protection
				benefits on each occasion that an employee is removed from exposure to MDA or
				otherwise limited pursuant to this section.
(2)
				 Definition of medical removal protection benefits. For the
				purposes of this section, the requirement that an employer provide medical
				removal protection benefits means that the employer must maintain the earnings,
				seniority, and other employment rights and benefits of an employee as though
				the employee had not been removed from normal exposure to MDA or otherwise
				limited.
(3)  Follow-up medical
				surveillance during the period of employee removal or limitations. During the
				period of time that an employee is removed from normal exposure to MDA or
				otherwise limited, the employer may condition the provision of medical removal
				protection benefits upon the employee's participation in follow-up medical
				surveillance made available pursuant to WAC
				296-62-076.
(4)  Workers' compensation claims. If a
				removed employee files a claim for workers' compensation payments for an
				MDA-related disability, then the employer must continue to provide medical
				removal protection benefits pending disposition of the claim. To the extent
				that an award is made to the employee for earnings lost during the period of
				removal, the employer's medical removal protection obligation must be reduced
				by such amount. The employer must receive no credit for workers' compensation
				payments received by the employee for treatment-related expenses.
(5)  Other credits. The employer's obligation
				to provide medical removal protection benefits to a removed employee must be
				reduced to the extent that the employee receives compensation for earnings lost
				during the period of removal either from a publicly or employer-funded
				compensation program, or receives income from non-MDA-related employment with
				any employer made possible by virtue of the employee's removal.
(6)  Employees who do not recover within the
				six months of removal. The employer must take the following measures with
				respect to any employee removed from exposure to MDA:
(a)
				 The employer must make available to the employee a medical
				examination pursuant to this section to obtain a final medical determination
				with respect to the employee;
(b) 
				The employer must ensure that the final medical determination obtained
				indicates whether or not the employee may be returned to their former job
				status, and, if not, what steps should be taken to protect the employee's
				health;
(c)  Where the final
				medical determination has not yet been obtained, or, once obtained indicates
				that the employee may not yet be returned to their former job status, the
				employer must continue to provide medical removal protection benefits to the
				employee until either the employee is returned to former job status, or a final
				medical determination is made that the employee is incapable of ever safely
				returning to their former job status; and
(d)
				 Where the employer acts pursuant to a final medical determination
				which permits the return of the employee to their former job status, despite
				what would otherwise be an abnormal liver function test, later questions
				concerning removing the employee again must be decided by a final medical
				determination. The employer need not automatically remove such an employee
				pursuant to the MDA removal criteria provided by WAC
				296-62-076.