At least five smaller states have made it easier for high-risk workers such as doctors, nurses and firefighters to claim workers' compensation benefits. But broad proposals have run into fierce headwinds in high-cost states like California and New York
At least five smaller states have made it easier for high-risk workers such as doctors, nurses and firefighters to claim workers' compensation benefits. But broad proposals have run into fierce headwinds in populous, high-cost states like Illinois, California and New York, where businesses and public employers alike warn such changes could thrust them into bankruptcy or force them to slash public services when they're already teetering financially.
Many workers with Covid-19 may already be eligible for workers' compensation benefits, but only if they can prove they contracted the disease at work — a challenge, given its community spread and asymptomic presence. The changes in question would make it so that certain workers who test positive for Covid-19 no longer have to prove that they were exposed on the job.
“We have heard over and over again that without a presumption it’s almost impossible to get these claims approved,” said Mitch Steiger, a lobbyist for the California Labor Federation. Nurses are more likely to win these policy battles than those who don’t work directly with Covid-positive patients. Roberson's union is co-sponsoring a California bill that, as written, would apply primarily to nurses, law enforcement, firefighters and other first responders., grocery store workers, mail carriers, essential child care providers and others will also have an easier time getting benefits if they test positive and a doctor directs them to stay home from work.
In New Jersey, Senate President Steve Sweeney is working on legislation that would expand access to workers’ compensation for essential workers who contract coronavirus. The bill would cover workers in the public and private sectors, and would be retroactive to early March. It also would prohibit employers from charging that employee for paid leave.
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