Simple question, though I can imagine the answer might be complex. Asking on my wifes behalf since she doesn't have an account.

My wife works at a large home improvement store, mostly in the garden department. As you can imagine, throughout the holiday season there was a lot of unusual heavy and awkward lifting associated with both holiday displays and trees. She started having pain in her elbow around the beginning of January.

She didn't bring it up to anyone at work, since there was no single moment where she was injured and it didn't occur to her. She also expected it to fade away as it seemed like a small thing. Unfortunately, in the last couple of weeks it's just gotten worse. She's got a doctors appointment scheduled and has had to get a brace.

Is it too late to file a claim under L&I, or in some other way link the potential costs of this back to her employer?