(Washington, DC ) - Today, the Department of Employment Services (DOES) announces the launch of a new web-based search engine that will provide access to workers’ compensation decisions via the agency’s website at does.dc.gov.  Access to decisions issued by Administrative Law Judges in the Office of Hearings and Adjudication [Administrative Hearings Division and Compensation Review Board] will provide claimants and attorneys ready access to decisions on cases – free of charge. 

“Not only will stakeholders be able to utilize this service to research cases from their office,” said Summer Spencer, Director of the Department of Employment Services, “but they will also have access before, during and after the hearing process in the department’s attorney conference room and courtrooms.  This tool will also provide ready references of precedent cases to our Administrative Law Judges enabling them to expedite the issuance of decisions.”

Initially, decisions issued from January 2007 through March 2008 will be available for research purposes.  This is the first phase in an on-going process that will provide updated and additional compensation decisions weekly.  In an effort to provide the most complete database for workers’ compensation claimants and attorneys, by the end of September DOES expects to post on-line decisions rendered by the Office of Hearings and Adjudication prior to 2007, as well as provide access to workers’ compensation decisions issued by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

The development of this on-line database and new search engine is a major accomplishment by DOES, resulting from collaboration between the agency’s Labor Standards Bureau and the Office of Information Technology.  This initiative is part of a larger effort by DOES to “go Green” by utilizing technology and reducing excessive paper consumption.

For additional information regarding this and other initiatives by the Department of Employment Services, Labor Standards Bureau, call (202) 671-1555.