This Just In ... Work Comp Laws Get COVID-19 Fatigue

For the past couple of years there has been a flurry of state legislative bills creating the presumption of employer liability for workers in certain occupation, such as first responders, who get infected by COVID-19. That trend has waned.

Last year 13 bills related to workers comp safety and COVID-19 were passed in state legislatures, according to analyses by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI).

The beginning of 2022 saw a dozen work comp bills introduced nationwide. However, most of these bills that addressed workplace diseases broadened the scope of presumption to include any disease caught at work, not just COVID-19, according to Laura L. Kersey, NCCI’s executive director of regulatory and legislative analysis. In any case, as of September only four of them have passed, most extending previous laws.

Steve Bennet of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association told Business Insurance magazine: “there’s no reason” for COVID-19 presumptions in most cases, especially since workers are no longer facing lockdowns. The lack of follow-through in state legislatures reflects this. A recent study of public attitudes about the pandemic by Swansea University reveals that a growing portion of the population has become less interested in paying attention to the continuing potential impact of COVID and its variants.

The researchers named this group of individuals the “variant fatigue” category. This group, they said, was “characterized by a more relaxed feeling, [were] less knowledge about the Omicron variant, less likely to follow the news, and more unlikely to change their behavior.”

In this issue:

This Just In...Work Comp Laws Get COVID-19 Fatigue

Will the Inflation Reduction Act Increase or Lower Workers Comp Costs?

How to Improve Workplace Ergonomics

How Loss of Consortium Can Shield Workers Comp Awards from Subrogation

State of US Workers Compensation Industry

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