The last few years, since the emergence of COVID-19, have been filled with challenges for employers like you. We appreciate your adherence to ever-changing rules and regulations that often required more of your time, attention, and effort to not only keep your workers safe, but keep your business compliant.
We’re happy to inform you that some COVID-19 reporting requirements created by the state legislature are coming to an end.
Employers are no longer required to report COVID-19 positive tests to their claims administrator for the purposes of determining if a COVID-19 outbreak occurred at a place of employment.
Employers are still required to:
- Report claims of a COVID-19 injury just like any other claim of an industrial injury.
- Adhere to their COVID-19 reporting obligations to other agencies (i.e. Cal/OSHA).
COVID-19 will no longer be a presumptive injury. A worker may still claim a COVID-19 injury, but it will no longer be presumed as a work-related illness and will be considered a regular claim. Previously, if a certain number of employees at a specific place of employment tested positive for COVID-19 within a specified period, and an employee’s positive test occurred within this specified period, then a workers’ compensation claim filed by the employee was presumed to be work related and the employee would have been eligible for benefits.
The shortened liability decision timeframes for a claimed COVID-19 injury of 30/45 days will revert back to the 90-day liability decision timeframe.
As a result of these changes, our COVID-specific email COVID@scif.com and fax number (800) 325-1284, used to report your cases to us, will no longer be available after January 1, 2024.
For more information on these regulation changes, see Find Out Which COVID-19 Reporting Rules Are Ending January 1. If you have any questions about COVID-19 reporting requirements, please call customer support at (888) 782-8338.