Settlement of Covid-19 Workers’ Compensation Claim for $650,000

Claimant contracted Covid-19 during the course of his employment from a co-worker.  Unfortunately, the Claimant died from complications of Covid-19 after a month-long hospital stay.  A claim for survivor’s benefits for the Claimant’s wife were brought under C.G.S. 31-306.  The Workers’ Compensation insurance company agree to pay a settlement of $650,000 to settle the claim.  This settlement included a resolution of hospital bills incurred as a result of the Claimant’s hospitalization.

COVID-19 Executive Order

On Friday, July 24th, 2020, Governor Ned Lamont issued an Executive Order relating to Workers’ Compensation benefits for essential workers who contracted COVID-19.  According to this order, essential workers, as defined by a prior executive order, who contracted COVID-19 between March 10, 2020 and May 20, 2020 are presumed to have contracted the virus through work so long as they worked outside their home within two weeks of becoming sick.  This order puts the burden on insurance companies to show that a sick worker did not contract the virus through work activities.

This Executive Order should help essential workers who contracted COVID-19 to pursue Workers’ Compensation benefits without having to prove they were exposed to the virus through work.

Other workers who contracted the virus outside of the time period listed above may still bring a claim for benefits related to COVID-19 infection, but would need to prove the infection occurred from work activities.

If you or someone you know was required to continue working through the pandemic and contracted COVID-19, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss bringing a Workers’ Compensation claim.

The full language of the Executive Order can be found here:  https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/Office-of-the-Governor/Executive-Orders/Lamont-Executive-Orders/Executive-Order-No-7JJJ.pdf