Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) has proposed raising the average hourly workers’ compensation rate by 4.9% for 2027. The proposal is not final: written comments close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 29, 2026, final rates are adopted November 30, and whatever gets adopted takes effect January 1, 2027. Between now and the deadline, the only move an employer has is to understand what the number means for their own account — and say something specific while the record is still open.
L&I’s State Fund is not one carrier among many. Unless your company is approved to self-insure, L&I is your workers’ comp carrier — there is no competing quote to collect. That makes this annual rate rule the one negotiation you actually get.
What does the 4.9% actually mean for your bill?
The 4.9% is a statewide average, not your number. L&I translates it to about $1.44 a week per full-time employee, or roughly $75 a year, before retrospective-rating refunds. The spread underneath the average is wide: under the proposal, 311 of Washington’s 326 risk classes would see higher base rates in 2027, per L&I’s rate notice. Your bill moves with your risk class first and your own claims history second — the average is just the weather report for the whole state.
Your rate is built from two parts you can look up. The first is your risk classification — a pooled rate reflecting the claim costs of everyone doing your kind of work. L&I’s proposed table shows how far apart classes land: increases run from about 4% for professional and clerical classes to 15% for firefighter and law-enforcement classes. The second part is your experience factor, which adjusts the experience-rated portion of your premium based on your own claims history; it cannot move more than 25% in a year under Washington’s rating rules, and the statewide average factor in L&I’s rate math is 0.91. A clean record does not exempt you from a class increase — if your industry’s claims got more expensive, your base rate rises even if your shop ran spotless. The class rate is the tide; the experience factor is the part of the bill with your name on it.
Your crew pays part of this too. Washington is the only state where workers pay a significant share of the premium — about a quarter of it, on average, comes out of employee paychecks, while employers pay roughly 75%. The premium is four charges stacked together (accident, medical aid, supplemental pension, and Stay at Work); employers pay the entire accident portion, and the other three split evenly with the worker. When the rate goes up, part of the conversation happens at your payroll window, not just in your budget.
Why does L&I say it needs the money?
L&I’s stated reason is cost pressure it does not control: “The cost of providing workers’ compensation coverage continues to go up as wages and medical costs increase,” Director Joel Sacks said in the agency’s announcement. L&I benchmarks rates to the state average wage because wage-replacement benefits are tied to earnings — when wages rise, the benefits owed on each lost-time claim rise with them, and pricier medical care makes every claim cost more to close.
Washington’s structure makes that pressure land on rates directly. Most states charge workers’ comp as a percentage of payroll, so rising wages automatically collect more premium. Washington charges per hour worked instead: when wages climb, the per-hour rate collects the same dollars it did before, so the only way the system keeps up is for L&I to raise the rate itself. A wage increase that would quietly fund the system elsewhere shows up in Washington as a public rate proposal with hearings attached.
Here is the part worth weighing before you comment: 4.9% is the discounted number, not the calculated one. L&I’s own proposed-and-indicated rate tables put the break-even increase — the rise its actuaries say would fully cover projected 2027 claim costs — at 18.2%. The agency proposes 4.9% and covers the gap from the workers’ comp contingency reserve, as it has in recent years. And it is a pattern, not a one-off: L&I’s own rate history shows average increases of 3.1% in 2022, 4.8% in 2023, 4.9% in 2024, 3.8% in 2025, and 4.9% in 2026 — adopt 2027 as written and that is six straight years of increases, each held below the stated cost of claims and closed out of savings. The honest argument in the record is not whether costs are rising; it is how much of the difference should come out of the reserve, and how fast.
How to comment before 5 p.m. on October 29
The deadline is receipt, not postmark: all comments must be received by 5:00 p.m. Pacific on Thursday, October 29, 2026. Email is the channel that cannot miss:
- Email: JoAnne.Attwood@Lni.wa.gov (Jo Anne Attwood, administrative regulations analyst)
- Mail: Jo Anne Attwood, Administrative Regulations Analyst, P.O. Box 41448, Olympia, WA 98504-4148 — mail it days early, because it has to arrive by the deadline, not leave by it
- In person, Tue Oct. 27, 10 a.m.: L&I Headquarters, Room S119, 7273 Linderson Way SW, Tumwater, WA 98501
- Virtual, Wed Oct. 28, 10 a.m.: Zoom meeting ID 548 421 0584, or by phone at 253-215-8782
- Virtual, Thu Oct. 29, 2 p.m.: same Zoom ID — the last session, three hours before comments close
Hearings run until everyone who wants to speak has been heard, and oral comments carry the same weight as written ones. A short, specific comment — your class, your numbers, what the increase does to a business your size — beats a long general one.
What to check before you comment
Pull your own class rate first. L&I publishes the proposed 2027 rate for every risk classification (Lni.wa.gov/WorkersCompRates). Look at your class’s actual change, not the 4.9% average — and if your classification doesn’t match the work your people actually do, raise it with L&I. The class is the biggest single lever in the premium.
Check your experience factor and what is driving it. Compensable claims — ones with wage replacement or disability costs attached — are what move it. Knowing which claims sit inside your three-year window, and which roll off next year, tells you whether your 2027 problem is the state’s increase or your own history arriving on schedule. Only one of those is L&I’s doing.
Confirm your Claim-Free Discount if you have earned one. No compensable claims during the three-year experience period qualifies you for 10% to 40% off the base rate, applied automatically. Automatic is not the same as guaranteed correct — a clean record with no discount showing is a fixable error worth real money.
Use Stay at Work before you need it. The program reimburses eligible employers 50% of a recovering worker’s base wages on approved light duty, plus expenses for the tools, training, or clothing the job needs. L&I credits it with $200 million-plus paid to keep over 66,000 workers on light duty. Every week a claim stays light-duty instead of lost-time is a week that does not compound inside your experience factor.
Ask whether Retrospective Rating fits. Retro is L&I’s safety incentive program: employers — individually, or pooled as a group through an association — earn a partial refund when claim costs come in below expectations. It is not free money; if costs run high, Retro can bill an additional assessment, capped in advance. With a strong safety program and disciplined claims handling, it is the one mechanism that hands premium dollars back. Without them, it is a bet against your own record.
Take the free safety help. L&I offers no-fee safety and health consultations, and cites studies showing employers who get a safety inspection or consultation see 10–30% fewer claims. Fewer claims today is a lower experience factor in every year of the next rating window. It is the slowest lever on this list — and the only one that lowers the underlying cost instead of arguing about how it gets divided.
The proposal becomes final on November 30 either way. What the comment window decides is whether the record includes the view from the employer side of the premium. Check your own numbers first, then say your piece before 5 p.m. on October 29.
Sources: Washington Department of Labor & Industries, “Proposed 2027 workers’ comp rates” notice and FAQ (Lni.wa.gov/2027Rates); L&I news release 26-15, Sept. 22, 2026; L&I, “Comparison of Wage Inflation and L&I Rate Changes Over Time”; L&I, “Proposed & Indicated 2027 Base Rates”; L&I employer pages on reducing rates, the Claim-Free Discount, the Stay at Work Program, and Retrospective Rating; Association of Washington Cities summary of the proposed 2027 base rates.