Washington Avoids Further Review of Tweak to Workers’ Comp Law

The Ninth Circuit won’t rehear a federal challenge to a Washington law that provides workers’ compensation to employees who develop certain health conditions and cancers tied to cleaning up a decommissioned federal nuclear production site.

The Department of Energy has overseen cleanup at the Hanford Site, which produced weapons-grade plutonium for use in the U.S. nuclear program during World War II and the Cold War, since 1989. The site generated radioactive and chemically hazardous waste, and the DOE hired private contractors and subcontractors to perform the cleanup work.

In 2018, Washington amended its workers’ compensation scheme and enacted a rule ...