IDAHO INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION

 The Idaho Industrial Commission is a state administrative agency with its main office located in Boise, Idaho. The Idaho Industrial Commission serves a number of different functions for the citizens throughout Idaho. For injured workers in Idaho and the lawyers at Goicoechea Law Offices, LLP, the most important function of the Idaho Industrial Commission is its central role in Idaho’s workers’ compensation cases.

 The Idaho Industrial Commission is charged with resolving disputed workman’s compensation cases. The Adjudication Division, the Compensation Division, and the Rehabilitation Division are focused, at least in part, on protecting injured workers. Each of the three divisions focuses on certain aspects of a workers’ compensation claimant’s claim for benefits.

 The Adjudication Division: 

• Ensures the timely processing and resolution of disputed workers’ compensation claims and medical fee disputes;
• Holds hearings (similar to civil court) to determine the compensability of workers’ compensation claims; and
• Provides an alternative method resolving workman’s compensation cases through mediation 

The Compensation Division: 

• Ensures that workers’ compensation benefits are paid properly and timely; and
• The benefits an attorney seeks to recover on behalf of an injured worker in a workers’ compensation case may include: medical benefits; temporary total disability benefits (lost wages); permanent partial impairment (permanent damage to the body); disability (decrease in wage-earning capacity); retraining; and attorney fees for an unreasonable denial of benefits. 

The Rehabilitation Division: 

• Assists injured workers to return to employment that is compatible with their postinjury physical condition in a job that can replace all or part of a worker’s preinjury wage.

 While the Idaho Industrial Commission has been charged with policing the insurance companies that write workers’ compensation insurance in the state of Idaho, the Commission is unable to ensure that each injured worker receives the benefits to which he or she may be entitled.  

Some examples of insurance companies that write workers’ compensation insurance in Idaho include: Idaho State Insurance Fund; Liberty Northwest Insurance Company; Associated Loggers Exchange; Workers Compensation Exchange; Advantage Workers Compensation Insurance Company; Sentry Insurance; and many others. What is more, some employers are self-insured. 

INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OFFICES

The Idaho Industrial Commission has offices throughout the state. Each office serves the city where it is located, as well as the surrounding area. The attorneys at Goicoechea Law Offices, LLP, are focused on serving Idaho’s injured workers from Riggins to the Canadian border. There are three Idaho Industrial Commission Offices between Riggins and Canada:  

            Lewiston Office
            1118 F Street
            Lewiston, Idaho
            Phone: 208.799.5035
            Fax: 208.799.3482 

The Lewiston office houses the Industrial Commission Rehabilitation Division and is the location of hearings for much of North Idaho. You can expect your workers’ compensation hearing to be held in Lewiston if you live in any of the following cities: Lewiston, Moscow, Lapwai, Orofino, Kamiah, Kooskia, Pierce, Weippe, Troy, Potlatch, Grangeville, Cottonwood, Craigmont, Kendrick, Juliaetta, Genesee, and other outlying areas. 

            Coeur d’Alene Office
            1111 West Ironwood Drive, Suite A
            Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83814
            Phone: 208.769.1452
            Fax: 208.769.1465 

The Coeur d’Alene office of the Idaho Industrial Commission houses the Rehabilitation Division and is the location of hearings in North Idaho for workers’ compensation claimants in cities like: Coeur d’Alene; Post Falls; Hayden Lake; Rathdrum; Dalton Gardens; Kellogg; Wallace; Spirit Lake; Blanchard; and other surrounding towns.  

            Sandpoint Office
            2101 West Pine St.
            Sandpoint, Idaho 83864
            Phone: 208.263.5747
            Fax: 208.265.9637 

Sandpoint’s Idaho Industrial Commission office is home to the Industrial Commission Rehabilitation Staff in the far north. Workman’s compensation hearings are also held at the Sandpoint office for injured workers living in places like: Sandpoint; Kootenai; Ponderay; Bonners Ferry; Naples; Clark Fork; and the surrounding area.  

GOICOECHEA LAW OFFICES

The attorneys at Goicoechea Law Offices, LLP, have handled cases against the insurance companies that insure nearly all of the employers in Idaho. Our lawyers work closely with the Idaho Industrial Commission on disputed workers’ compensation claims to ensure that injured workers obtain the benefits they are entitled to under the law. 

The Idaho Industrial Commission’s web page is available at: www.iic.idaho.gov  

If you need more specific information, or would like to talk with a lawyer, call our attorneys at Goicoechea Law Offices, LLP, toll free -- 800.255.4134 -- for a free initial consultation and evaluation of your workers’ compensation claim.