IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING COVID-19 and WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BENEFITS***

On March 6, 2020, Governor Tom Wolf issued an emergency disaster declaration due to the new coronavirus known as COVID-19.

If you believe that you have been exposed to COVID-19 in your workplace, you may be eligible for Workers’ Compensation (WC) benefits.

There are two options for anyone who thinks that they may have had a workplace exposure:

Option 1: An employee can file a typical “disease-as-injury” workers’ compensation claim, which would require the employee to provide medical evidence that they were exposed to COVID-19 in the workplace. Employees must provide this type of evidence for all injury-related claims.

OR

Option 2: An employee could file an “occupational disease” workers’ compensation claim, which would require showing that COVID-19 is occurring more in the employee’s industry or occupation than in the general population, such as the healthcare industry.

(*** I am offering this post for informational purposes. I genuinely hope that you are all staying safe and healthy. To those of you on the “front lines” – especially the healthcare industry – THANK YOU! There are heroes in everyday life, and I appreciate the sacrifices that you are making to help those who need it.)