WCDefenseCA

Happy Monday, dear readers!

Your humble blogger has some secret news for you.  Thanks to my network of sources and informants, I’ve come across some very, very “hush hush” information that I need you to swear you’ll keep between me, you, and… well… anyone else reading this blog.

On Wednesday, July 29, 2020, the Assembly Insurance Committee was scheduled to hear testimony regarding SB1159, the proposed legislation codifying Governor Newsom’s COVID19 presumption executive order.  Apparently, this has now been postponed until August 11, 2020, however, but all signs point to the bill proceeding along the track so wisely laid out by School House Rock.

As presently written, Senate Bill 1159, drafted by your humble blogger’s own State Senator, Jerry Hill, would presume industrial causation for cases where the claimant contracted COVID19 and showed symptoms within 14 days of work through July 5, 2020.

The glaring defect in enforceability under Governor Newsom’s executive order – that the state Legislature has sole authority to draft legislation concerning workers’ compensation, would effectively be cured by this.

So, your humble blogger is becoming more and more of the opinion that maybe, just maybe, this isn’t the best use of the legislature’s time.  Hear me out on this, dear readers.

California has almost 450k cases and about 8.4k deaths.  Out of a population of almost 40 million people, that’s a rate of 1.1% for infections.  Of those cases, the death rate is less than 2%.  How many corona virus claims have we had in the workers’ compensation system?  Just speaking as to anecdotal evidence – aside from hospital and healthcare workers, I haven’t seen COVID19 claims appear as a major factor.  In fact, I’ve probably seen more orthopedic CT claims resulting from shelter-in-place caused lay-offs.

The healthcare worker cases don’t even seem to be contested – in most cases they are paid in full and the healthcare workers return to work after a few weeks.

If I’m wrong, dear readers, please let me know and I will (metaphorically) wear sackcloth and apply ashes to myself, probably by declining to enjoy scotch or port for an entire evening.

Now, I should take a moment to clarify – your humble blogger is not minimizing the effects of COVID19 in general.  Perhaps the legislature would better spend its time addressing COVID19 impact statewide, rather than within the workers’ compensation system.

Straight on till Wednesday, dear readers!