Businesses Fear Claims Related to Zika Virus

Friday, September 30, 2016 | 0

Some Florida businesses and labor lawyers are bracing for possible claims from workers who say they were bitten by Zika-carrying mosquitoes.

Among the Miami-area residents who have tested positive for the virus are three employees at the Wynwood Yard, an outdoor food and entertainment complex, and a police officer, the Miami New Times reported.

Phillip Russell, a Tampa-based labor attorney with Ogletree Deakins, is one of seven attorneys assigned to the firm’s Zika rapid-response team.

He has advised companies to not force employees who are or might become pregnant to travel to Miami conferences, the alternative weekly reported.

Russell acknowledged the difficulty in workers trying to prove Zika-related claims.

“How do you prove that the mosquito bite didn’t happen outside while the employee was mowing grass on a Sunday?” he told the New Times. “We don’t have an answer.”

As WorkCompCentral first reported, workers bitten on the job by Aedes mosquitos and contracting Zika would be covered under workers’ compensation, but Florida’s clear-and-convincing evidence burden makes it virtually impossible for them to prove their claims.

Zika cases would be adjudicated based on the occupational disease theory found under Florida Statute 440.151 and would be treated like any other occupational disease, including hepatitis, black lung or cancer, said David Langham, deputy chief judge in the Florida Office of Judges of Compensation Claims. 

OSHA has issued a Zika advisory for businesses.