Last week, a Minnesota House committee approved a bill that would extend the presumptive COVID-19 benefits to frontline workers, first responders and healthcare employees.
As we discussed on the blog in the past, the presumptive COVID-19 benefits meant that certain frontline workers were allowed to collect workers’ compensation benefits if they contracted the virus. Normally a person would have to prove that they contracted the illness during their line of work, but given the nature of the pandemic, the role these first responders play and how hard it would be to prove beyond a doubt that they contracted the virus from someone while at work instead of an asymptomatic person they encountered elsewhere in society, Minnesota lawmakers passed a bill that meant that it could be presumed that their diagnosis was a result of their job duties.
This made it easier for thousands of frontline workers in Minnesota to collect workers’ compensation if they were forced to miss work because they contracted COVID-19. However, the presumptive law actually expired on December 31, 2021.
Push To Renew And Extend Law
Rep. Dan Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud, has proposed a bill that would reenact the presumptive benefits and extend them through May 2023. Most notably, the law would also be retroactively applied, meaning that any frontline worker who contracted the virus in 2022 after the presumptive benefits had expired would be eligible to collect compensation.
The bill passed 8-5 along party lines, with Wolgamott arguing that frontline workers deserve these protections for the services they are providing during the pandemic.
“For the past month, we have been asking over 183,000 of our public safety, health care and child care workers to serve our communities on the frontlines of this pandemic without any guarantee they would receive compensation if they contract COVID-19,” said Wolgamott. “I find this unacceptable.”
So far, roughly 20,000 frontline workers including firefighters, police officers, paramedics, health care workers and certain child care providers have received benefits under the state’s presumptive COVID-19 law.
The bill will now move the the Senate Labor and Industry Policy Committee, and should it ultimately gain approval, our frontline workers will once again be able to collect workers’ compensation should they contract the virus and be forced to miss time from work.
So if you are a first responder or health care worker and believe that you may be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits because you contracted COVID-19 and couldn’t work, reach out to the team at Hey Workers. We’ll help to put together a strong case and get you every penny you deserve for working tirelessly on the front lines during the pandemic. For more information, or for help with a more standard workers’ compensation injury claim, reach out to the team at Hey Workers today at (844) 439-9675.
