Labor and business groups are gearing up for a fight over whether employers — through workers’ compensation — should pay health costs for essential workers infected by COVID-19, with Gov. Gavin Newsom expected to decide the multibillion-dollar debate soon.
Union leaders want Newsom to issue an executive order presuming that essential employees who contract coronavirus did so on the job, rather than in the community, making it easier for them to file workers’ compensation claims for COVID-19. Business groups warn that such a move could raise annual costs for employers by as much as $33 billion per year.
- * Denise Davis, spokeswoman for the California Chamber of Commerce: “Imposing a legal conclusion that any employee who contracts the coronavirus is covered by workers’ compensation benefits shifts the cost of the pandemic to the private sector. … The private sector cannot be the safety net for this crisis, that is the role of government.”
So far, Newsom has remained mum on whether he plans to issue such an order, though California employers believe he’s on the verge of doing so. It’s also unclear how an order would define essential workers. Meanwhile, state lawmakers have introduced two bills to accomplish something similar.
Workers’ compensation benefits include health care not subject to copays or dollar limits, medications, disability payments and, in the worst case, death and burial benefits for families. To qualify for the benefits, most workers have to prove they contracted the disease specifically because of their work, and employers can contest their claims.
- * Gregory Cattermole, San Mateo workers’ compensation attorney: “I don’t think it’s fair or reasonable that our frontline workers have to bear the burden to prove where it came from. That’s a ridiculous burden to put on people who are really protecting us and keeping the state healthy.”