Webinar to Focus on COVID Legislation

Friday, October 2, 2020 | 0

Michele Tucker, vice president of enterprise comp operations for CorVel, and Brenna Hampton, managing partner of work comp defense firm Hanna & Brophy, will discuss recently enacted legislation identifying the situations in which COVID-19 will be presumed compensable for California workers.

Brenna Hampton

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 17 enacted Senate Bill 1159. The bill, by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, codified a presumption the governor created through an executive order that applies to all people who reported to work between March 19 and July 5.

The bill also outlined five additional situations in which COVID-19 would be presumed compensable starting July 6. Specified public safety and health care workers will be presumed to have contracted the disease at work when a carrier does not deny a claim within 30 days. For all others, there is a presumption that a COVID-19 claim is compensable if it’s not denied within 45 days.

Additionally, the bill presumes COVID-19 claims are compensable when filed by a first responder or health care worker who tested positive within 14 days of going to work. And the bill presumes COVID-19 claims are compensable for all other workers who test positive within 14 days of going to work at a site that is experiencing an outbreak.

The definition of an outbreak in SB 1159 depends on the size of the employer. A place with more than 100 workers is experiencing an outbreak if at least 4% of the people who reported to that place of employment test positive for COVID-19. A place with 100 or fewer workers is experiencing an outbreak if at least four employees test positive.

The presumption will be in effect through Jan. 1, 2023.

The webinar runs from 10-11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Registration information is here.