Worker in Meatpacking Plant Wins COVID Case

Friday, May 21, 2021 | 0

A worker at a Texas meatpacking plant will receive workers’ compensation benefits for COVID-19 after the employer did not appeal an order finding he had a compensable claim, according to a report by the Amarillo Globe-News.

Jose Tovar contracted COVID-19 in April 2020 while working at a JBS USA Inc. meatpacking plant in Cactus, according to the report. American Zurich Insurance Co. denied Tovar’s claim for lost wages from the three weeks of work he missed.

An administrative law judge in April ordered the carrier to pay benefits to Tovar. JBS did not appeal by the May 18 deadline, rendering the decision final.

An epidemiologist testified that crowded conditions at the plant where nearly a third of workers were infected with COVID-19 by June 2020 made it likely Tovar was sickened at work.

The administrative law judge reportedly found the testimony of the epidemiologist persuasive in concluding that Tovar “could reasonably only have been infected at work.”