Wednesday, April 20, 2005

What to do if injured during a high school game

By Tim Stevens
WIAA

With rainouts and reschedules being what they are, Leslie has issued strict orders that no umpires are allowed to become injured while working on the baseball field. If you do, however, choose to ignore this rule and have to have medical attention then you need to follow it up with an L&I (Labor and Industries) claim.  

Even though umpires are independent contractors, for the purposes of state L&I, they are considered to be treated as "casual employees" of the school district for whom the umpire is officiating (please note that this article is for injuries occurred only working WIAA member school games; for other games NBUA has a separate contract). Rather than require each individual school to maintain L&I coverage for all officials WIAA acts as a central clearing agency by charging schools for L&I and handling all claims. What this means is that if you are working a game between Bainbridge and Ingraham at Ingraham, for instance, the Seattle School District has pre-purchased L&I coverage for both you and your partner through WIAA.   WIAA, in turn, purchases the L&I coverage through the State of Washington according to the rates identified by the state.

Since WIAA handles the purchasing on behalf of the schools, they also handle the claims process. Prior to this year much of the processing was done in-house, which was slow, laborious and cumbersome and occasionally resulted in claims being dragged out over time.   Fortunately, WIAA has now obtained the services of an organization specializing in the efficient processing of L&I claims that has significantly reduced the amount of effort spent in handling claims.

Although claims are being handled through an outside agency, they still need to be initiated through the WIAA office. The point of contact is Andy Barnes, and his email address is abarnes@wiaa.com. He can also be reached by phone at the WIAA main number of 425-687-8585.

If you are injured on the field for a scholastic game and feel that you might need medical attention, don't hesitate. Get to the doctor, indicate it will be for an L&I claim, and get with Andy as soon as possible. This will allow you to be able to get the treatment you need with the coverage you're provided.  

And whatever you do, get healthy as soon as possible. Leslie needs you back on the field!