Employee Benefits for Coronavirus
What Employees Need to Know
NJ Governor Patrick Murphy signed legislation enacting sweeping measures to provide workers’ compensation benefits to essential workers who contract coronavirus [COVID-19] and provide dependency benefits to their survivors.
Essential Workers
The legislation eases the burden of proof by establishing a rebuttable presumption that coronavirus disease contracted by health care workers, public safety workers, and other essential employees is work-related and compensable under the NJ Workers’ Compensation Act.
Self-Quarantine Benefits
A person exposed to coronavirus during their work has now been told to self-quarantine (healthcare workers, wait staff, retail teachers, etc.)
- May be eligible for Workers’ Compensation: If a person is directed to self-quarantine by their employer or a public health official following known exposure to the virus during their work, that person could be eligible for workers’ compensation. May be able to use accrued Earned Sick Leave: The Earned Sick Leave law states, in part: “Time during which the employee is not able to work…because of the issuance by a public health authority of a determination that the presence in the community of the employee, or a member of the employee's family in need of care by the employee, would jeopardize the health of others.”
- May be eligible for Workers’ Compensation: If a person is directed to self-quarantine by their employer or a public health official following known exposure to the virus during their work, that person could be eligible for workers’ compensation.
- May be able to use accrued Earned Sick Leave: The Earned Sick Leave law states, in part: “Time during which the employee is not able to work…because of the issuance by a public health authority of a determination that the presence in the community of the employee, or a member of the employee's family in need of care by the employee, would jeopardize the health of others.”
Additional Benefits
New Jersey has among the most comprehensive Earned Sick Leave, Temporary Disability, and Family Leave Insurance laws in the country, covering all employees – full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal.
New Jersey’s Earned Sick Leave Law even covers public health emergencies – employees can use Earned Sick leave if their workplace or child’s school or daycare is closed due to an epidemic or if a public health authority determines the need for quarantine.
Earned Sick Leave can be used for self-care, or for a person to care for a family member, which includes a child, grandchild, sibling, spouse, parent or grandparent, domestic or civil union partner, anyone related by blood to the employee, or anyone whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of family.
That said, variables affect eligibility as well as the applicable benefit or protection. The Labor Department examines cases on an individual basis and makes eligibility determinations in accordance with the law.
An employee should not apply for benefits if you continue to be paid by your employer during COVID-19.
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Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (Thomson-Reuters) and co-author of Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (Thomson-Reuters). For over five decades, the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have represented injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.
Blog: Workers ' Compensation
Twitter: jongelman
LinkedIn: JonGelman
LinkedIn Group: Injured Workers Law & Advocacy Group
Author: "Workers' Compensation Law" Thomson-Reuters
Updated: 05/22/2022
More links
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Workers’ Compensation Benefits for Long COVIDWorkers’ Compensation Benefits are available for those eligible workers who have been exposed to COVID at work and contracted the disease and remain ill from Long COVID. A recent study indicates of COVID patients indicates that two after coming down with COVID, over 50% of those patients still suffer from at least one virus-related condition.
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Is the workers' compensation system ready for the COVID-19 [coronavirus] virus? Live UpdatesThe enormity of a COVID-19 [coronavirus] virus pandemic presents a new and novel challenge to the system and one that must be considered by both Federal and State planners. Workers’ Compensation programs have adapted to emergencies before, including natural disasters and terrorist attacks. The urgency of the situation requires that the system be prepared now.
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COVID Boosters: What Employees and Employers Need to KnowMany employers and state governments are mandating that employees be vaccinated against COVID. Confusion remains over the rapidly changing landscape of booster doses as reports of waning or compromised immunity even though a worker is considered “fully vaccinated” when the original series of doses are completed.