Virginia bill would add workers to presumption law

Lawmakers in Virginia will consider adding “salaried or volunteer emergency medical services personnel” to existing presumption law regarding death or disability from respiratory disease, hypertension, heart disease, or cancer.

 

H.B. 1818, pre-filed on Wednesday, would amend state law that states “total or partial disability shall be presumed to be occupational diseases, suffered in the line of duty, that are covered by this title unless such presumption is overcome by a preponderance of competent evidence to the contrary.”

 

Currently volunteer emergency medical services personnel are excluded from the presumption, along with volunteer law-enforcement chaplains, auxiliary and reserve deputy sheriffs, and auxiliary and reserve police, according to the bill.