Elizabeth (Liz) Smith

WA. State Dept. of Labor & Industries, Assistant Director – Fraud Prevention and Labor Standards

Elizabeth (Liz) Smith has served as Assistant Director for L&I’s Fraud Prevention & Labor Standards division since April 2013 — she oversees the statewide worker’s comp fraud prevention systems (field audit, collections, civil and criminal investigations, detection & tracking, and construction compliance) as well as the Washington State labor standards enforcement programs, which includes Employment Standards, Prevailing Wage, and Apprenticeship.

Prior to this position, she served as the L&I Program Manager for the Worker’s Comp Fraud Prevention and Compliance unit. Previously, between 2010 and 2012, Liz was the Program Manager for the Employment Standards office, which enforced wage and hour, child labor and other workplace rights laws. From 2006 to 2010, she served as Program Manager for the L&I Office of Apprenticeship, overseeing the state’s Registered Apprenticeship training system. Prior to that, Liz served as Policy Research Manager and briefly served as agency administrative rules coordinator.

Up to 2004, Liz worked in Sacramento as a legislative director in the California State Senate, specializing in Environmental Quality, Health Care, and Business && Professions policies.

Liz is an Honors graduate from Western Washington University. After graduation, she completed a Public Affairs Leadership Fellowship in San Francisco with the Coro Foundation, a nationally competitive post-graduate leadership training program.

She lives in Grand Mound, WA, where she and her husband, Curtis, are raising two sons. They enjoy growing vegetables and enjoying whatever sport happens to be in season.