Across the country, policymakers are wrestling with whether a worker who contracts COVID-19 is compensated under workers’ compensation for income loss and medical expenses, given that communicable diseases, such as the flu, have generally not been covered.

While policymakers in some states have indicated that they have existing rules and procedures in place to handle this new communicable virus, others have passed laws and executive orders to address these claims, identify the workers in scope, and determine how far the burden of proof is shifted (e.g., rebuttable presumptions).

In this free 30-minute recorded webinar, WCRI CEO John Ruser and Judge David Langham, deputy chief judge of compensation claims for the Florida Office of Judges of Compensation Claims at the Division of Administrative Hearings, discussed this important topic and took audience questions.

Questions addressed:

• How have communicable diseases been treated in the past in workers’ compensation?
• What has changed about COVID-19?
• How have the various states altered the potential compensability of COVID-19 claims?
• How would the different approaches to potential compensability affect the volume of claims?
• Does the treatment of COVID-19 claims signal a change in the future for how communicable diseases are covered in workers’ compensation?

Click here to watch.

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