Year trimmed off proposed COVID presumptions extension

Presumptions that California lawmakers enacted in 2020 to help determine when COVID-19 contraction arose from employment would remain in place for one more year instead of two under a recently amended bill.

The COVID-19 presumptions enacted during the first year of the pandemic are scheduled to sunset at the end of this year. A.B. 1751 would maintain the presumption until Jan. 1, 2024, under amendments adopted Thursday.

Earlier versions of the bill would have kept the presumptions in place through Jan. 1, 2025.

At the same time, lawmakers added language that would expand the presumptions to cover additional first responders including firefighters, active firefighting members and police officers at the state departments of State Hospitals, Developmental Services, Military and Veterans Affairs.

The additional workers would be covered by the more generous presumptions lawmakers created for first responders. They would be entitled to a presumption that COVID-19 is compensable if they test positive within 14 days of going to work, and they would be entitled to a presumption that a claim is compensable if not denied within 30 days.

The COVID-19 presumption for workers other than specified first responders requires a person to test positive within 14 days of going to a workplace that is experiencing an outbreak.

An outbreak exists if at least four people at a company with 100 or fewer workers tested positive for COVID-19 in a 14-day period, or if at least 4% of employees test positive at a business with more than 100 workers. Claims for COVID-19 filed by non-first responders are presumed compensable if not denied within 45 days.

California lawmakers last week also voted to send to the governor bills creating a panel to study the economic and occupational impacts of high heat and to simplify the procedure for the state’s backstop against insolvent insurers to request bonds to pay for claims.

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