L&I financial incentive programs
Stay-at-Work and Preferred Worker Programs
Our vocational experts prepare the required documents and complete the applications for reimbursement of wages, tools, equipment and training through Department of Labor & Industries financial incentive programs.
Money the department already owes you
Stay-at-Work and the Preferred Worker Program exist because the department wants an injured employee back on light duty faster than a claim would otherwise allow, and it is willing to pay part of the cost to make that happen. That means an employer who brings someone back to modified work can be reimbursed for wages, for tools and equipment bought to accommodate the return, and for training. Most employers never file for it. Not because they are not entitled to it, but because the paperwork sits behind the claim itself, and nobody on staff has the time to chase a second application while the first one is still open.
Qualifications keep moving, and we track them
The Preferred Worker Program's qualifications have changed more than once, and an employer running payroll does not have a reason to follow every revision the department makes. We do. Our vocational team keeps current on what qualifies, prepares the application in the form the department expects, and files it while the underlying claim is still active, so the reimbursement window does not close before you have used it.
BridgeMark — Washington State only. We represent employers, not insurers and not claimants. Call 253-293-8878.
Unclaimed by defaultTwo programs, one office, and no one filing on your behalf.
Why these reimbursements go unclaimed
Stay-at-Work and the Preferred Worker Program are two separate applications, each with its own eligibility rules, and each one is administered on top of the workers' comp claim it grows out of, not in place of it. An employer already managing the underlying claim, the light duty offer and the day-to-day of running the business is not the person with time left over to learn a second department program well enough to file it correctly. That is the ordinary reason these reimbursements sit unclaimed. It has nothing to do with whether the employer qualifies.
We do not treat this as a one-off form. Our vocational team handles the return-to-work side of a claim as a matter of course, so the Stay-at-Work or Preferred Worker application is prepared alongside the job offer letter and the job analysis, not bolted on afterward as an extra task nobody owns.
ApplicationPrepared and filed for youWe complete the paperwork and submit it while the underlying claim is still open, rather than waiting for it to surface as an afterthought.
QualificationsTracked as they changePreferred Worker Program qualifications have been revised more than once. We keep current on the version that applies to your claim.
CoordinationTied to the return-to-work fileHandled alongside the job analysis and job offer letter your claim already needs, not as a separate, disconnected filing.
Any figure attached to a specific reimbursement, wage percentage or dollar cap is specific to the claim, the wage and the program year, and it is worth confirming directly against L&I. We will not put a number on this page that has not been verified against your own claim.