COVID-19 and Workers' Compensation: What the Law Says

Leaving the theories behind of more successful battling with the virus at the very start by behaving more responsibly; we have indeed sentenced a lot of essential workers to the battlefront and have put them in dispute, as they didn't have the 'luxury' of working from the comfort of their homes. 

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If you have suffered and recovered from the coronavirus, while the illness itself was caused by work exposure, you may ask what are your rights, and what does the SC law says in this case?

Occupational Disease?

First, you need to know that South Carolina does not have a specific law, still, about the COVID-19 as a reason or cause for compensation benefits, and it's rather seen as not an occupational disease and is tended case by case.

According to SC compensation law, the cases related to occupational exposure to COVID-19 are tightly evaluated and estimated for the insurance program. This program provides benefits to workers who become ill or injured strictly if the employment subjects them to increased risk.

This is mostly due to the nature of the pandemic itself and a very high virulence and longer incubation period. A common comparison with flu or cold makes it harder to determine whether the disease was caught because of the exposure through their job or somehow else. However, employees with COVID-19 entitled to workers' compensation benefits are usually the ones who come in contact with the public (healthcare, grocery store, restaurant, retail store workers, etc) as part of their job. These employees have a better chance of qualifying for comp benefits based on increased exposure due to their everyday duties.

The Conditions of Qualifying

Most states, including South Carolina, have essential workers such as first responders, healthcare workers, grocery store workers, workers in warehouses and delivery, state workers, correction officers, and volunteers (with Florida and Kentucky adding social, postal, and educational workers) - on the list of workers entitled to compensation benefits. 

Until we get to see all workers who are required by their employer to work outside their home - federally recognized as essential workers, we hope that you're being recognized as one in SC.

Depending on the conditions of your case, you might be evaluated based on three criteria:

1. Was there an increased risk of getting COVID-19 due to your occupation?
2. Would you be exposed or got the disease if not for your occupation?
3. Could you determine, or even pinpoint, the event or hazard when you might've got the disease?

If you have these factors positively covered, you could hope for a positive compensation answer. If not, or for any other reason you believe that you would be entitled to comp benefits, it would be a wise idea to hire professional help, since your case will most likely be sent through the court system.

What is Covered?

In general, compensation benefits include payment of all medical bills and a certain percentage of salaries lost. In case of permanent disability or the death of the employee, the state gives additional payments to near and noted family members.

However, with COVID-19, we're still finding out new symptoms and all the ways it marks the diseased. But what we do know, is that lack of breath, fatigue, pain, and dysfunction in lungs and heart months after recovery - mean serious impairment. Supported by medical evidence, and the evidence about everyday exposure to the virus because of the job - most certainly mean entitlement to benefits.

What Should You Do?

To date, several hundred COVID-19 employees' compensation claims have already been filed in South Carolina and almost all of them have been denied and sent before the Workers' Compensation Commission where judges make the concluding decisions.

That shouldn't discourage you. As mentioned, each case has to be reviewed as not every case is the same - some people have indeed suffered from coronavirus outside their job and some have become infected because of the nature of the job. And just as the nature of the disease is versatile, so are the cases, and they'll be formally judged based on the unique facts involved with each worker's claim. Again, dealing with the law, you might consider a lawyer's help.

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And just as COVID-19 caught us all not very prepared, the same goes for state policymakers across the country. For now, every state has its own compensation policy and all you have to do is to be patient, medically covered, and professionally secured.

Micah Soto

Update 18 March 2021