{"id":8143,"date":"2020-04-28T12:17:31","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T16:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10028\/uncategorized\/does-workers-compensation-cover-coronavirus\/"},"modified":"2020-04-28T12:17:31","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T16:17:31","slug":"does-workers-compensation-cover-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/article\/does-workers-compensation-cover-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Workers’ Compensation Cover Coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many employers have furloughed or laid off<\/a> their workers because of the COVID-19 outbreak<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Others have directed employees to work from home.<\/p>\n

But many others must still travel to work every morning.<\/p>\n

These people include food service retailers, hospital workers, emergency responders, utility workers, and the list goes on.<\/p>\n

In normal times, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, employers have an absolute duty to keep workplaces \u201cfree of serious recognized hazards<\/a><\/u>.\u201d<\/p>\n

That would include known infectious diseases. But as anyone can tell, these are not normal times.<\/p>\n

But this is not this city\u2019s first rodeo. New Yorkers endured a number of tuberculosis outbreaks through much of the twentieth century.<\/p>\n

Before the 1940s, no medication was available.<\/p>\n

Doctors could only test patients, isolate them, and hope they recovered.<\/p>\n

That sounds a lot like current coronavirus treatments, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

The periodic TB outbreaks spawned a number of workers\u2019 compensation cases which could help today\u2019s coronavirus victims obtain the benefits they deserve.<\/p>\n

An assertive New York workers\u2019 compensation attorney<\/a><\/u> who knows the law and stands up for you greatly assists in this process.<\/p>\n

Workplace Connection<\/h2>\n

COVID-19 spreads through airborne contact or surface contact.<\/p>\n

A mask requirement limits the airborne spread, although it does not eliminate it.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, coronavirus remains on cardboard, plastic, metal, and any other hard surface for up to seventy-two hours<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n

So, either airborne or surface contact is possible at any workplace.<\/p>\n

In the very early days of the pandemic, before stay-at-home orders, it was difficult to establish a COVID-19 workplace connection<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n

People went so many places and did so many things.<\/p>\n

Now, essential workers usually go from their homes to their jobs and back.<\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s much easier to establish a workplace connection.<\/p>\n

Other illnesses are relevant here as well.<\/p>\n

If no one else at home got sick, the workplace connection is almost conclusive.<\/p>\n

Legal Precedent<\/h2>\n

An obscure 1949 case, Lyden v. United Hospital<\/a><\/u><\/em>, might be the cornerstone of a COVID-19 workers\u2019 compensation claim.<\/p>\n

A New Yorker who had no prior history of tuberculosis or any similar disease became a laboratory technician in 1938. In 1949, Lyden tested positive for TB.<\/p>\n

Even though there was no quarantine in effect and Lyden could have contracted tuberculosis from anyone in any place, the court ruled that there was a sufficient workplace connection to sustain a benefits claim.<\/p>\n

The same conclusion could apply to a modern laboratory tech at Bellevue or a cashier in a neighborhood bodega.<\/p>\n

Our fictional cashier\u2019s case is even stronger because of 1968\u2019s Lechowicz v. Albany Medical Center Hospital<\/a><\/u><\/em>.<\/p>\n

A TB ward janitor, whose duties included maintaining equipment and repairing beds, contracted the disease.<\/p>\n

Once again, the court ruled that he had a compensable occupational disease.<\/p>\n

Essentially, the court extended the Lyden <\/em>doctrine to anyone who was at risk for contracting a known infectious disease.<\/p>\n

Diligent surface cleaning, mask requirements, and other precautions are probably not a defense in this context.<\/p>\n

The hospitals in Lyden <\/em>and Lechowicz <\/em>doubtless took extreme precautions in this area.<\/p>\n

But in workers\u2019 compensation cases<\/a>, claimants must only show a workplace connection.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s different from civil court, where plaintiffs must establish facts by a preponderance of the evidence.<\/p>\n

That being said, non-essential workers might have a hard time establishing workers\u2019 compensation claims after officials lift the quarantine.<\/p>\n

A line of cases, from Buckley v. Gallagher Bros. Sand & Gravel Corporation<\/em> (1950) to Artiste v. Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center<\/em> (1996), indicate that the risk must be intense or connected to the person\u2019s employment.<\/p>\n

Occupational diseases are conditions like respiratory problems, joint pain, and environmental cancer which develop over the course of more than one shift.<\/p>\n

Benefits Available<\/h2>\n

Occupational disease victims are entitled to compensation for their lost wages.<\/p>\n

Generally, workers\u2019 compensation pays two-thirds of the average weekly wage for the duration of a temporary disability.<\/p>\n

If the victim can return to work but must accept a lower-paying remote or isolated assignment, workers\u2019 compensation usually pays two-thirds of the difference between the old and new salaries.<\/p>\n

If the victim does not survive, a lump sum payout is usually available.<\/p>\n

Workers\u2019 compensation also pays for all reasonably necessary medical expenses.<\/p>\n

These items include emergency care, follow-up care, prescription drugs, and medical devices. So, most job injury victims never see medical bills.<\/p>\n

And, they are not responsible for any unpaid charges.<\/p>\n

If you are an essential worker and you developed COVID-19, contact one of the experienced New York workers\u2019 compensation attorneys<\/a><\/u> at Napoli Shkolnik for a free legal consultation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many employers have furloughed or laid off their workers because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Others have directed employees to work from home. But many others must still travel to work…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[792],"tags":[806,911,971,992,993],"class_list":["post-8143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","tag-occupational-diseases","tag-workers-compensation-lawyer","tag-health-and-safety","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19"],"acf":[],"page_builder_type":"gutenberg","gutenberg_data":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}