An end to the pandemic national emergency does not mean an end to workers’ compensation claims dealing with Covid-19, but claims activity has dropped dramatically, experts say.
On April 10, President Joe Biden signed a resolution ending the national emergency related to the pandemic, ending some temporary federal programming and waivers but leaving intact the public health crisis caused by the virus.
The reaction from the labor community to the declaration is mixed.
“This declaration should have no impact on whether or not work-related Covid claims are covered by workers’ compensation,” said Jeff Eddinger, director of the Boca Raton, Fla.-based National Council on Compensation Insurance.
When the pandemic began, many states passed laws creating temporary covid-1
9 workers with presumptions of compensation, but most of those measures have since expired.California and Texas are the two remaining states with such statutes. California extended its presumption to January 2024. Texas’ presumption expires September 1.
At the height of the pandemic, 20 states had covid-19 or “infectious disease” presumptions for workers who were likely exposed to the virus on the job. Most of the claims came from health care workers and first responders, although claim activity was higher than expected among retail workers who are considered “essential workers” in many states.
Jeff Adelson, an attorney at the Newport Beach, Calif.-based law firm Adelson McClean, which represents employers and insurers, said claims are no longer a problem because they have dropped significantly.
“From my company, we just don’t see them,” he said.
Last week, the California Workers’ Compensation Institute released figures showing an increase in COVID-19 claims between October and December of last year, but the number dropped sharply in January.
Illinois, which also had a presumption in place, has also seen a wind-down in claims activity and litigation, according to attorney Rich Lenkov, of the Chicago firm Downey & Lenkov.
“I don’t think a lot of lawyers are taking these cases anymore, and certainly the ones that are taking these cases, they don’t seem to be making it very far to the trial stage,” says Mr. Lenkov, a comp. defense attorney.
Eddinger said $400 million was paid out for COVID-19 claims in NCCI states in 2020 and $114 million in 2021.
NCCI is now digging through 2022 numbers. “From what I’ve seen so far, it looks like a pretty big drop from 2021 to 2022,” Eddinger said, adding that this year’s total is forecast to be even smaller.
Max Koonce, director of claims for Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc., said that after a peak in January 2022, Covid-19 claims stabilized last year and volume continued to decline in the first quarter of this year.
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