Five Areas For Workers Comp Jurisdiction

As I posted last time, Mr. Walsh is going to help us out with Workers Comp jurisdiction. See my last post for the original question. I was taught this many years ago.

If an employee is injured that has a multi-jurisdiction problem, the WALSH test is a great one to evaluate the jurisdiction. WALSH stands for Worked, Accident, Lived, Salaried, and Hired. I have seen a Workers Comp judge actually use this test.

W - where does the injured employee work most of the time?
A - where did the accident occur?
L - where did the employee live?
S - where was the employee paid from - where was check cut?
H - where was the employee originally hired?

The W carries the most weight. The H carries the least.

Yes, I know the test is not foolproof and does not work in all jurisdictions. It is a great starting point.

If one applies this test to the original question - the premium auditor would have been correct - from a possible claims standpoint - to ask for premium for coverage in another state for the subcontractor. There are many complications to making the statement that the premium collection was correct. This is when a company may want to contact a premium consultant. I am not advertising our services.