What to Know about Worker's Compensation and COVID-19

Workers' compensation is a program that became the law across the United States in 1948 when Mississippi became the final state to establish a workers' comp law. Now all states (except Texas, where it is optional) mandate some form of the law. Workers' comp pays for:

• Medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Ongoing care (including rehabilitation)
• Funeral expenses

How does workers compensation factor into Covid-19

Probably most of your research about WC has been focused on how to purchase this type of insurance and how to find the best deal. You may be aware that WC covers employees who are injured on the job or who develop occupational diseases as a part of their job. For janitors, the most common injuries are from lifting incorrectly, falls, or machinery mishaps. Working with hazardous chemicals is also a danger.

What you may not have considered until now is how COVID-19 affects the janitorial industry. Is COVID-19 covered by workers' comp? Read on for answers.

In many cases, janitors are on the frontline of the COVID battle—or perhaps we should say the COVID war, since the battles have been against variants: Alpha, Delta, now Omicron, and with who knows how many more to come? Cleaners are expected to keep workplaces clean and sanitized—more sanitized than ever before. You have only to look at any business that is open to the public to see their pledges of COVID precautions and deep cleaning protocols, designed to set their customers' fears to rest. Commercial cleaners are responsible for carrying out these added measures. What happens if they get infected and can't work?

 Workers' comp laws differ in each state, so there is no clear and definitive answer. 

• Traditionally, communicable diseases like colds and flu were not covered, both because they didn't last long and because there was no way of proving that they were definitely a result of work-related contact.
  
  
• There is a debate in many states about whether COVID contracted at work should be classified as an accidental injury or as an occupational disease.
  
  
• Additionally, many states confine their workers' compensation COVID coverage to essential workers. But even the question of who can be defined as an “essential worker” is a debatable topic.
  
  
• The CDC defines “essential workers” as “those who conduct a range of operations and services in industries that are essential to ensure the continuity of critical functions in the United States.”
  
  
• In general, janitors and cleaners are considered essential workers as long as the place where they work is considered essential. For example, in some states, a restaurant cleaner would not be considered essential because restaurants are not considered essential. Someone cleaning a hospital or nursing home or a factory producing necessary goods is definitely “essential.”
  
  
• However, each state spells out workers' comp guidelines regarding COVID in meticulous detail. For example, in Illinois, essential workers include “cleaning and janitorial staff for commercial and governmental properties.”
  
  
• A cleaner or janitor in Illinois would be able to apply for workers' comp under the Occupational Diseases Act. An employee would have to prove that COVID was contracted at work as described in the act: “a disease shall be deemed to arise out of the employment if there is apparent to the rational mind, upon consideration of all the circumstances, a causal connection between the conditions under which the work is performed and the occupational disease. (820 ILCS 310/1 (d).”

States

• Some states have used executive orders to provide coverage for certain classifications of workers, such as first responders and those who have to interact with the public:
  • Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Oregon.
    
    
• The states that have enacted protections as part of their statutes that provide workers' comp protection for COVID-19 so far are:
  • Alaska, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia.
• Several other states have legislation pending that would include COVID-19 as a specific illness:
  • Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Maine, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
    
    
• In many states, the issue is still being fought in the courts. According to Reuters, the following states have not yet given special consideration for COVID-19 infections (or have failed to pass proposed legislation on the topic):
  • Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

• As the employer, the only way you could rebut the claim would be by attempting to prove that COVID-19 was not contracted at work. It is a nebulous and intricate situation with many gray areas.
  
  

Currently

• As of last February, up to 56% of workers' comp claims relating to COVID had been rejected, according to a Wall Street Journal study cited in Fortune
  
  
• Many workers don't even attempt to make a workers' comp claim because they are affected for only a short period. Most of the compensation that has been paid out is for the cases that need hospitalization, or for those suffering from Long COVID, also known as Post Acute COVID-19 Syndrome.
  
  
• The entire system may see more claims from employees with Long COVID in the future. A United Kingdom study estimates that 3%-37% of those who contract the disease will go on to have symptoms such as:
  
  
  • Shortness of breath
  • Memory problems or “brain fog”
  • Dizziness after exertion
  • Organ damage
  • Blood clots in the heart, lungs, legs, liver, or kidneys

On one hand, as vaccination rates increase, there are fewer serious cases of COVID-19. On the other hand, there is still much that is unknown about the Omicron variant in particular and about possible future variants in general.

Copyright The Janitorial Store. All Rights Reserved

Visit our Store for Certification Training Programs

Non-Member Price $147.00
Member Price $97.00