Calif. bill adds COVID to occupational injuries for hospital workers

Lawmakers in California are considering a bill that would add COVID-19 to the list of diseases suffered by hospital care workers under workers compensation presumption.

S.B. 213, introduced and amended on Thursday, changes the language in existing law that defines “injury” for a hospital employee who provides direct patient care in an acute care hospital, which to date includes infectious diseases, cancer, musculoskeletal injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and respiratory diseases. 

The bill would add COVID-19 “among other conditions” in the definitions of infectious and respiratory diseases, creating a rebuttable presumption that these injuries developed or manifested “in a hospital employee who provides direct patient care in an acute care hospital arose out of and in the course of the employment,” according to an analysis of the bill.

The bill states that the presumption shall be extended to a hospital employee following termination of employment for three calendar months for each full year of employment, but not to exceed 120 months, “beginning with the last date actually worked in the specified capacity.”