Protect essential workers during pandemic, but don’t swamp businesses when economy comes back

Many companies in California have begun sounding the alarm after learning that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office is seriously considering issuing an executive order stating that all employees working outside of the home (not just essential workers) who contract COVID-19 during the shelter in place order will automatically be covered by workers’ compensation. Furthermore, there would be no opportunity to review or rebut the claim.

To be clear, it makes perfect sense during this time to take care of the frontline workers we all consider heroes today: first responders or hospital workers providing patient care. These Californians have direct, daily exposure to patients who carry the virus. The technical term for this is an “irrebuttable presumption of compensability,” meaning they should receive workers’ comp if they test positive for the virus and require treatment. We all can and should support that.

However, should this irrebuttable presumption of compensation apply to every worker in the state? How can we know in other sectors if the employee did not somehow contract the virus somewhere else, and not at work? Employers and providers should have the right to consider this question. This isn’t anti-worker; it’s about fairness and allowing the system to work as designed.

Keep in mind, anyone who falls victim to COVID-19 should receive care, but it’s important not to place that care in a system that isn’t designed or funded to cover injuries beyond the workplace.

If a blanket irrebuttable presumption of compensation is offered to any person working outside the home, workers’ comp insurance costs will increase by billions in California at precisely the wrong time: when the California economy is hoping to slowly restart.

And who will this hit the hardest? Small businesses, for one: restaurants and independent retail stores that are currently shut down and count their employees among their highest costs. As the economy attempts to restart, how many of them will run the numbers and decide it’s just not worth reopening?

Again, this doesn’t mean other essential workers won’t receive care through other, more suitable systems, like traditional and government sponsored health care. This proposal basically takes government and health insurers off the hook for their responsibility to care for people who contract COVID-19 outside of the work environment. The presumption would require this to be paid as a workers’ comp claim even in circumstances where the worker has identified the source of the exposure as a community or individual event. This is a cost-shift away from health plans and government.

The workers’ compensation system is complicated and technical and should not be greatly expanded beyond its intended purpose without considering the real impact a radical change might have to the economy. We need our businesses to recover so that we can bring back jobs to California.

We are all eager for life to begin moving again toward some sense of normalcy. But certainty and the principle of “do no harm” is at the forefront for businesses to get employees back in their jobs and get our economy moving again.