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Special Report: What Happens After the COVID-19 Presumptions Are Repealed?

Posted by:  Sure S. Log
Topics: COVID-19 presumption COVID Occupational Disease SB 1159 AB 1751

In 2020, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill 1159 (SB 1159), which established a rebuttable presumption for specified employees that illness or death resulting from COVID-19 arose out of and in the course of employment. The presumptions were established in Labor Code § 3212.86, LC 3212.87 and LC 3212.88. In the Senate Floor Analysis for SB 1159, the Legislature believed that the burden of fighting COVID-19 had fallen disproportionately on a small group of workers in both the private and public sectors. The presumptions were enacted to reduce the barriers to accessing the workers’ compensation system for essential workers suffering from COVID-19.1 So for several years, the COVID-19 presumptions made it easier for many workers to prove entitlement to workers' compensation benefits for illnesses related to COVID-19.

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What Constitutes a Timely Denial Under LC 5402(b)?

Posted by:  Sure S. Log
Topics: denial 90-day presumption

Generally, an employer must deny a claim within 90 days to avoid a presumption that it's compensable. Labor Code 5402(b)(1) states, "If liability is not rejected within 90 days after the date the claim form is filed under Section 5401, the injury shall be presumed compensable under this division." Once the presumption attaches, it can be rebutted only by evidence that could not have been obtained with the exercise of reasonable diligence within the 90-day period. (SCIF v. WCAB (Welcher) (1995) 60 CCC 717.) In Rodriguez v. WCAB (1994) 59 CCC 857, however, the Court of Appeal held that an employer is not required to issue a denial letter within the 90-day period to effectively deny the claim. In Rodriguez, the employer sent a denial letter on the 89th day following the filing of a claim form, and the applicant did not receive it until the 96th day. The applicant asserted that the denial letter had to be received within the 90-day period to be a sufficient denial pursuant to LC 5402(b)....

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