Does Minnesota Workers Compensation Law provide benefits to an employee who contracts COVID-19 at work?
Yes – indeed. If it is clear that the COVID-19 disease was contracted on a worksite, whether the employer’s home business site or an off-site workplace, the employee is entitled to receive workers’ compensation benefits. Note that an employee who contracted Covid-19 while working at home is probably not entitled to benefits. Keep reading below for questions and answers regarding the legal implications of Covid-19.
The Minnesota Workers’ Compensation presumption law provides that employees on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, as described in Question 2, are presumed to have contracted a workers’ compensation occupational disease if they become ill with COVID-19. A summary of this law is available here on our website or at www.dli.mn.gov/updates.
An employee is entitled to the presumption if they contract COVID-19 on or after April 8, 2020, while employed in one of these occupations:
The employee’s date of injury is either the date the employee was unable to work due to contraction of COVID-19 or was unable to work due to symptoms that were later diagnosed as COVID-19, whichever occurred first.
The presumption law does not define “assistive employee” or “ancillary work,” although a reasonable argument can be made that the terms include professional and nonprofessional employees who perform a variety of work in a healthcare setting, in addition to nurses and healthcare providers. Any employee who works in health care and believes they might have COVID-19 due to their employment should take the steps identified in Question 6.
No, employees do not need to be tested for COVID-19 to qualify. An employee can qualify by showing either: a positive laboratory test or, if a test was not available for the employee, a diagnosis based on symptoms by a licensed physician, licensed physician’s assistant, or licensed advanced practice registered nurse. A copy of the test results or the diagnosis by one of these listed healthcare providers must be provided to the employer or insurer in order to qualify.
If an employee has contracted COVID-19 and is employed in one of the occupations as described in Question 2, the illness is presumed to be a workers’ compensation occupational disease and is compensable, unless the employer “rebuts” (disproves) the presumption. The employer may only rebut the presumption by proving the employee’s employment was not a direct cause of the disease. The employer has the burden of proving that while performing his or her job duties, the employee was not exposed to COVID-19 or the exposure to COVID-19 could not have been a cause of the employee’s illness.
The employee should notify their employer as soon as possible after they develop symptoms they think could be COVID-19. There are time limitations for reporting an injury to the employer. (See www.dli.mn.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/infosheet_reporting_work_injury.pdf.) The employee should keep a record of when they developed symptoms and when they notified their employer of those symptoms.
Further, the employee should seek medical care from one of the healthcare providers identified in Question 4 and request a test for COVID-19. If a test is not available, the employee should request that the health care provider document that a test was not available, and further document their symptoms and provide a diagnosis of whether they believe the employee has COVID-19. The employee should provide a copy of the test results or the diagnosis to their employer or their employer’s insurer.
The employer must file a first report of injury with the workers’ compensation insurer or claim administrator. The insurer or claim administrator must notify the employee in writing within 14 days to state whether the employee’s claim is accepted or denied. If the employer does not file a report of injury with its insurer or claim administrator, the employee may call the Department of Labor and Industry for help. (See Question 13.)
Information about an employee’s options, if their claim is denied, is at www.dli.mn.gov/business/workers-compensation/claim-process-claim-denied.
Yes, an employee who has COVID-19 but who does not fall into one of the occupations described in Question 2 can still claim a workers’ compensation injury or occupational disease if they believe their illness is due to their employment. The employee should notify their employer as soon as possible. The employee can also call the Department of Labor and Industry for assistance.
Workers’ compensation benefits include medical treatment, monetary benefits for wage loss and permanent disability, dependency benefits under Minnesota Statutes, section 176.111, and vocational rehabilitation benefits. Information about workers’ compensation benefits is available on our website, you can always check more information about this in our work faq’s section.
If an employee is not ill, but must stay home from work because they were exposed to the COVID-19 virus, they are not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. If an employee was exposed at work and later contracted COVID-19, the illness may qualify as a workers’ compensation injury. Talk to a qualified attorney for information about your specific circumstances.
The presumption law provides that the COVID-19 presumption expires at 11:59 p.m., on Dec. 31, 2021. Employees with dates of injury that occur on or after Jan. 1, 2022, are not entitled to the presumption in section 176.011, subdivision 15, paragraph (f), but are not precluded from claiming an occupational disease as provided in other paragraphs of section 176.011, subdivision 15, or from claiming a personal injury under section 176.011, subdivision 16. (See Question 9.)
Yes, information about other worker protections can be found by speaking to a qualified workers’ compensation lawyer. An information sheet is also available here on the Minnesota Department of Labor’s website. This is also available in Hmong, Somali, and Spanish at www.dli.mn.gov/updates.
If you or a loved one have developed COVID-19 symptoms while laboring at your place of work, you should speak immediately with one of our attorneys at Schmidt Salita Law Team for a consultation to determine if you qualify for the COVID-19 workers’ comp. presumption, how to go about properly providing notice and pursuing workers’ compensation benefits for your condition, and all your legal rights according to Minnesota law. Our workers’ compensation expert attorneys understand the nuances of work comp claims and can be a reliable resource for injured workers in Minnesota.
A Schmidt Salita Workers Comp Lawyer will come to your home, or the hospital, for your initial visit. The Schmidt Salita Law Team strives to provide personal injury legal services with a personal touch to help the victims of personal injury through a very difficult time in their lives.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by Founding Partner, Dean M. Salita, with more than 30 years of legal experience as a personal injury attorney.
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