COVID-19 heroes must jump through hoops for workers' comp - Yahoo News

Lauded for their service and hailed as everyday heroes, essential workers who get the coronavirus on the job have no guarantee in most states they'll qualify for workers' compensation to cover lost wages and medical care.

Fewer than one-third of the states have enacted policies that shift the burden of proof for coverage of job-related COVID-19 so workers like first responders and nurses don't have to show they got sick by reporting for a risky assignment.

In nearly all states, they have to prove they got the virus on the job to qualify for workers' comp.

Acknowledging such realities, more than a dozen states have enacted policies known as “presumptions” that relieve essential workers like Dori Harrington, the nurse from Connecticut, of having to prove how they actually got COVID-19 on the job.

“At a time of community spread of a disease like this, it is not appropriate for a workers' comp system to act as a public safety net," said Edie Sonn, head of public affairs for Pinnacol Assurance, Colorado’s leading workers' comp insurer, which opposed the effort.

“From what we see so far, the average claims cost associated with a COVID-19 claim is less than the loss associated with a typical workers' comp claim,” said Holzberger.

For essential workers who got COVID-19 and suffered through fever, fatigue, shortness of breath, racking cough, and other symptoms, the denial or acceptance of a workers' comp claim can have a profound impact.

Fire alarm inspector Kenneth Larkin of Montevallo, Ala., said he was rebuffed by his former employer when he requested workers' comp for a coronavirus test.