New Colorado Bill Proposes Presumptive Workers’ Compensation Coverage For Essential Workers Who Contract Novel Coronavirus
Colorado Senate Bill 216 proposes the creation of a rebuttable presumption for purposes of qualifying for workers’ compensation benefit coverage for essential workers who are diagnosed with COVID-19.FN1 The stated purpose of the bill is to protect essential workers who continue to work outside the home and face an increased likelihood of infection. Those defined as essential workers include first responders, corrections officers, healthcare personnel, commercial cleaning workers, grocery store workers, operators of public transit, and airline employees.FN2
The substance of the bill provides that if an essential worker contracts COVID-19, the contraction is “presumed to have arisen out of and in the course of employment,” and is “a compensable accident, injury, or occupational disease,” for purposes of qualifying for workers’ compensation benefit coverage.FN3 To qualify, an essential worker must either (1) test positive through for the virus that causes COVID-19; (2) be diagnosed with COVID-19 by a licensed physician; or (3) have a death certificate listing COVID-19 as the cause of death.FN4
Employers may rebut the presumption if they provide “clear and convincing evidence of specific causation establishing that the essential workers’ contraction of COVID-19 did not arise out of or in the course of the essential workers’ employment.”FN5
If passed, the bill will retroactively apply to the start of Colorado’s Stay-at-Home Order, which went into effect on March 16, 2020, and would remain effective until June 21, 2022. Other states have introduced and/or passed similar workers’ compensation presumptions for the protection of essential workers.FN6
Takeaway
We anticipate the Colorado legislature will take a vote on the bill soon. If passed, employers who have workers that contract COVID-19 will face spending resources to overcome the high burden of evidentiary proof needed to rebut the presumption that the disease was contracted at work to avoid paying employees’ medical bills. Campbell Litigation, P.C. will continue to provide updates to this and other COVID-19 related legislation.
Footnotes:
FN1: S.B.20-216, https://statebillinfo.com/bills/bills/20/2020a_216_01.pdf
FN2: Id. at Section 2(1)(b).
FN3: Id. at Section 2(2)(a).
FN4: Id. at Section 2(2)(b).
FN5: Id. at Section 2(3)(a) (emphasis added).
FN6: Other states include Alaska, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. See Caroline Dickey, California Creates Workers’ Compensation Presumption of Coverage for COVID-19 Illness, National Law Review (May 9, 2020), https://www.natlawreview.com/article/california-creates-workers-compensation-presumption-coverage-covid-19-illnesses.