Submit a Report of Accident with the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) within 1 year of the injury date. If a doctor is treating you in Spokane, the provider can often start that filing during the visit.

1. File the L&I claim, not silence. Washington workers' compensation covers employees regardless of immigration status. Your boss's deportation threat does not cancel your right to medical care, wage-loss benefits, or a permanent partial disability award. If a spring pothole or frost-heaved lot caused a delivery crash, fall, or back flare-up that made an old condition much worse, L&I still evaluates the aggravation of the pre-existing condition.

2. Tell the doctor the new injury worsened the old problem. Use clear dates, body parts, and what changed after the incident. "My back hurt before, but after the Spokane restaurant scald/fall I now have leg numbness and cannot lift trays" is the kind of distinction that matters. Washington law allows recovery when a work injury lights up, accelerates, or aggravates a prior condition. That can support treatment, time-loss, and impairment benefits.

3. Document the threat separately and immediately. Write down who said it, when, where, and the exact words. Save texts, voicemails, shift messages, and witness names. Under RCW 51.48.025, an employer may not discharge or discriminate against a worker for filing or intending to file a workers' compensation claim. In Spokane, retaliation or intimidation tied to a claim can also be reported to L&I.

4. Use the right agency for the right problem. Your injury claim goes to L&I. If the boss is withholding wages or coercing you after the report, that is a separate employment issue that may also involve the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries Employment Standards Program. The smarter path is filing now, while medical evidence is fresh, instead of waiting and letting the employer control the record.