St. Paul, MN - Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed legislation to extend the COVID-19 workers’ compensation presumption. The law provides a presumption that if public safety or health care workers contract COVID-19, they did so during the course of their employment and are covered by workers’ compensation.
Representative Robert Bierman (DFL-Apple Valley) voted in support of the measure and released the following statement:
“With COVID-19 variants continuing to drive a surge in cases, now is not the time to let the workers’ comp benefits for first responders and healthcare workers expire,” said Rep. Bierman (DFL-Apple Valley). “With the presumption having already expired at the start of this year, there’s no time to waste in ensuring these workers are covered.”
The previous law allowing for this presumption ended on December 31, 2021, leaving 183,000 frontline workers without the guarantee of compensation in the event they contract COVID-19. The new bill would extend the presumption to January 1, 2023. 22,573 workers have received compensation under the presumption, totaling $20 million. During the lapsed time, over 2,000 frontline workers have contracted COVID-19.
Those workers impacted by this legislation include:
- Firefighters
- Peace and Police officers
- Paramedics
- EMTs
- Health care providers, nurses or assistive employees in a health care, home care or long-term care setting who work with COVID-19 patients
- Nurses, health care workers, correctional officers or security counselors at correctional facilities
- Child care providers who are required to provide child care for the children of first responders and health care workers under the Governor’s Executive Orders
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