COVID-19 Contracted in the Workplace & PA Workers' Compensation

According to the PA Department of Labor and Industry, “an illness caused by work exposures can be considered an injury or an occupational disease.” Under the PA Workers’ Compensation Act, when a person suffers an illness, it can either be categorized as a work-related “injury” or an “occupational disease.”

An “injury” in PA workers’ compensation can be a one-time incident such as a motor vehicle accident, fall, or strain/tear of a body part. It could also be repetitive in nature, injuring a body part by doing the same work over and over again. Additionally, pre-existing conditions can be aggravated by one’s work and categorized as an injury.

Occupational diseases, on the other hand, are usually associated with specific occupations. An example of this was asbestosis and silicosis illnesses related to the steel industry in its heyday. Workers can be exposed to certain chemicals or poisons on a daily basis through their work, which can lead to illness and/or death.

So, what about COVID-19? If you contracted it at work, is it considered an injury or an occupational disease? In most cases it would probably fall under the category of “injury,” but arguments can and will be made that, depending on the industry and type of work, it could be considered an occupational disease.

We have all heard in the news that particular industries are harder hit than others. For example, frontline health care providers who worked directly with COVID-19 patients had greater exposure due to delayed access to personal protective equipment (PPE). In addition, manufacturing and the food industry are at higher risk for contracting the virus, as workers are often required to work in very close proximity to one another. In the early stages of the pandemic, PPE was limited, and individuals may have been infected before the severity of the virus was public knowledge.

Pennsylvania workers’ compensation is no different from any other service or business in that adaptations have had to be made into the foreseeable future. In the PA workers’ compensation practice, Petitions and Answers continue to be processed electronically, and workers’ compensation judges are conducting hearings via telephone, Skype for Business, or a similar video platform during this shutdown process. Your case will proceed through the litigation process and will not simply be dismissed.

If you or anyone you know has a workers’ compensation issue, contact an experienced workers’ compensation attorney and do not wait until this pandemic is over — help is a phone call away. Robinson Law LLC is and has been working virtually and continuously throughout this crisis.