We hear about the public health implications of the Coronavirus outbreak, and we hear about the economic implications of the outbreak, we hear about the impact upon our health care system, and even small businesses, but what about the effects of Covid-19 on employees, employers, and insurance carriers when it comes to workers’ compensation? It is entirely possible that the disease could have major impact upon the workers’ compensation system in terms of impacting employees at work, especially health care workers but potentially all sorts of other works who are exposed at their jobs like public safety personnel.
Whether or not Covid-19 will be considered a valid occupational illness will depend upon an individual employee’s profession and the nature of their exposure, along with the statutory provisions of their jurisdictions because each state has their own requirements when it comes to occupational diseases. Generally, Worker’s Compensation Courts have required that an ‘Occupational Disease’ must have arisen out of the course and scope of the individual’s employment or caused by particular conditions associated with the individual’s work. For example, hearing loss was recognized early on as arising out of the course and scope of the employment of work associated with the ‘fire service’ prior to the time that firefighters started wearing protective hearing equipment when responding on fire apparatus with sirens blazing. Another prime example was the wide-spread acceptance of the types of ‘respiratory illnesses and diseases’ resulting from the toxic cloud associated with the 9-11 destruction that impacted rescue workers. (While additional federal coverage was provided for this later example, it’s used solely for illustrative purposes of.)
At least one state has already taken action to define coverage in regard to Covid-19, on March 5, 2020 the Washington Department of Labor and Industries clarified that the state will provide benefits to health care workers and first responders during the time that they are quarantined after being exposed to coronavirus on the job. While this appears limited in scope, in my opinion it actually opens the door as an admission by the state that these types of personnel who are exposed and become ill do so as a result of their occupation and will therefore likely be subject to coverage under full workers’ compensation provisions well beyond what the state has ‘set in motion’.
So, with Coronavirus as just one more potential risk for both employees and employers, especially small businesses continuing to operate and provide services during these times of uncertainty, sound Workers Compensation Coverage is essential. And what better coverage can you have then a Pay-as-you-go plan based on each payroll computed as part of your payroll program your workers’ compensation premium is always accurate and timely, continually adjusted for actual employee changes and employee wage changes. So, if you would like to ‘Be prepared with workers’ comp that’s pay-as-you go every time you run your QuickBooks Payroll’, then head on over to the QuickBooks Workers’ Compensation website for more details. The QuickBooks Workers’ Compensation offering is provided by Intuit Insurance Services Inc. and AP Intego.
Make sure to join us for "Advisory Services: Workers' Compensation Insurance," a webinar presented by Lynda Artesani & Matthew Fulton from QB Community Live! on May 6, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. You can register here.