Covid-19 and Workers’ Compensation

April 24, 2020

Covid-19 and Workers’ Compensation

The coronavirus outbreak has impacted many areas of our lives, it has also effected the way we and our work as well.

Policies regarding shutdowns non-essential work, social distancing and remote work, have impacted both employers and workers around the world. Some industries, which have been heavily affected by the outbreak and where the risk of exposure is much higher, are now working even more. And it’s only natural that workers in these industries have concerns about their health and the risks they are exposed to at work.

Covid-19 & Workers’ Compensation in Arizona

During these uncertain times, the ICA (Industrial Commission of Arizona has noted that workers who contract the Covid-19 may be able to establish that they contracted the illness at their place of work and thus qualify for a work injury compensation.

With this possibility, employers will be further motivated to minimize the presence of employees at the workplace who display symptoms of Covid-19 or that have been diagnosed with the illness.

Response to workers’ compensation claim is possible. If an employer wants to challenge the claim’s validity, he can do that through the employer report of injury and needs to provide the insurance carrier the necessary information and document which will support the challenge.

Who’s eligible for Workers’ Compensation?

In time of this crisis, when the cause for concern is a quick-spreading virus, the workers that contract the virus are having a very hard time to establish how they contracted the virus and with that uncertainty, they might not qualify for workers’ compensation benefits.

But in cases of public safety workers, it’s presumable that they contract the Coronavirus, or any other serious disease while doing their job and responding to a situation like this epidemic. So naturally, it’s highly likely that their illness is related to their employment. And as such, they are entitled to the workers’ compensation benefits.

But what happens to those workers that aren’t in the public safety profession? Well, at the moment, there’s no presumption for compensability. This is mainly because it would be very hard and difficult to prove the connection between their work and their illness. So they might need to explore other possibilities for compensation.

If you fall into a category of employment which is not related to public safety, and you need legal counsel on what type of compensation benefits you’re eligible for, contact us today and let us help you.

Categories

Archives