New California law extends COVID-19 workers' comp benefits through 2022
On September 17, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 1159, which makes workers' compensation benefits available to certain employees who contract the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). SB 1159, which takes effect immediately, also requires employers to report COVID-19 cases to their workers' comp claims administrators.
Extension of COVID-19 workers' comp through January 1, 2023
To receive workers' comp benefits, an employee normally has the burden of producing evidence and proving that his injury arose out of and in the course of his employment. SB 1159 creates a "rebuttable presumption" that, for certain categories of workers, contracting COVID-19 is an "injury" that arose "out of and in the course of employment." The categories to which the new law applies depend on the date of injury: