Workers’ Compensation and COVID19. The ARAWC Government Relations team keeps a close eye on what is happening with Texas workers’ compensation and alternative injury benefit programs and also what other states are doing. In this issue of the Member Update, we highlight a movement toward expanding workers’ compensation coverage for workers who contract COVID19. Some of the more significant recent state actions include:
- Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) issued an order that expands eligibility for workers comp coverage due to occupational exposure for first responders, grocery workers, child care workers, and health care workers assisting in the State’s response to COVID-19. Workers must still show a causal connection between conditions under which the work was performed and COVID-19 exposure. Kentucky is the first state to extend workers compensation to workers beyond health care providers and first responders who contract COVID-19. The order applies to all insurers writing workers comp policies in Kentucky, as well as self-insureds in the state.
- The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission issued a new emergency order which creates an automatic presumption that any essential worker, who is diagnosed with COVID-19, contracted the illness at the workplace, even if they are working remotely or currently not on the job. A coalition of Illinois employers is pushing back against the order, signing onto a letter criticizing the commission’s action as “a drastic policy change that will significantly increase costs and require employers to pay for medical expenses and salary benefits if an employee is diagnosed with COVID-19 without proof the illness was contracted at the workplace.”
- The Minnesota legislature passed a bill for health care providers, police officers, first responders, correction officers and others that guarantees people in high-risk jobs, who contract COVID-19, will be eligible for workers’ compensation without having to prove the infection was a direct result of their jobs. Workers at long-term care facilities, and child care providers are also covered by the bill. Protections afforded by the legislation expire on May 1, 2021.
- In California, Governor Gavin Newsom on March 12 issued an executive order announcing that any worker exposed to coronavirus on the job is eligible for worker’s compensation benefits from their insurer. California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara followed that up with a reminder to insurance companies that all workers exposed to COVID-19 while working on the frontline are eligible for worker’s compensation benefits, regardless of immigration status. The Commissioner’s notice reconfirmed that to receive workers’ compensation, injuries caused by COVID-19 must still arise out of and occur in the course of employment just as any other compensable injury or disease.
- The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation issued an informational memorandum to all insurers and entities authorized to write workers’ compensation insurance providing guidance on the treatment of policyholders affected by COVID-19. The memo reminds all regulated entities that Florida law requires an employer to provide workers’ compensation coverage if the employee suffers a compensable injury arising out of work performed in the course and scope of employment. First responders, health care workers, and others that contract COVID-19 due to work-related exposure are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits under Florida law.
All of these developments are happening against the backdrop of CDC and FEMA drafting guidelines to enable the Administration and state governors to reopen parts of the country within weeks. Governor Greg Abbott has announced that he will lay out his plan for re-opening the Texas economy on Friday, April 17.
One of the challenges to restarting the economy are two often conflicting public policy objectives: continuing to protect the public including extending coverage for health care and other essential workers who contract COVID19, and, at the same time, preventing an explosion of potential liability claims against employers. Daily updates from the White House and from state governors present a rapidly changing landscape. ARAWC’s government relations team continues to monitor and analyze developments as they relate to Texas injury benefit programs.
For your reference, here are other resources focused on workers’ compensation and COVID19:
