COVID-19 Presumption
Labor Code 3212.87 COVID
(a) This section applies to the following employees:
(1) Active firefighting members, whether volunteers, partly paid, or fully paid, of all of the following fire departments:
(A) A fire department of a city, county, city and county, district, or other public or municipal corporation or political subdivision.
(B) A fire department of the University of California and the California State University.
(C) The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
(D) A county forestry or firefighting department or unit.
(2) Active firefighting members of a fire department that serves a United States Department of Defense installation and who are certified by the United States Department of Defense as meeting its standards for firefighters.
(3) Active firefighting members of a fire department that serves a National Aeronautics and Space Administration installation and who adhere to training standards established in accordance with Article 4 (commencing with Section 13155) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 12 of the Health and Safety Code.
(4) Active firefighting members of a fire department that provides fire protection to a commercial airport regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under Part 139 (commencing with Section 139.5) of Subchapter G of Chapter 1 of Title 14 of the Federal Code of Regulations and are trained and certified by the State Fire Marshal as meeting the standards of Fire Control 5 and Section 139.319 of Title 14 of the Federal Code of Regulations
(5) Peace officers, as defined in Section 830.1 of the Penal Code, subdivisions (a), (b), (e), (f), and (h) of Section 830.2 of the Penal Code, subdivision (a) of Section 830.3 of the Penal Code, subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 830.37 of the Penal Code, subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 830.5 of the Penal Code, and subdivision (a) of Section 830.53 of the Penal Code, who are primarily engaged in active law enforcement activities.
(6)
(A) Fire and rescue services coordinators who work for the Office of Emergency Services.
(B) For purposes of this paragraph, “fire and rescue services coordinators” means coordinators with any of the following job classifications: coordinator, senior coordinator, or chief coordinator.
(7) An employee who provides direct patient care, or a custodial employee in contact with COVID-19 patients, who works at a health facility. For the purposes of this subdivision, “health facility” means a health facility as defined in subdivision (a), (b), (c), (m), or (n) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code.
(8) An authorized registered nurse, emergency medical technician-I, emergency medical technician-II, emergency medical technician-paramedic, as described in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1797.50) of Division 2.5 of the Health and Safety Code.
(9) An employee who provides direct patient care for a home health agency, as defined under Section 1727 of the Health and Safety Code.
(10) Employees of health facilities, other than those described in paragraph (7). For these employees, the presumption shall not apply if the employer can establish that the employee did not have contact with a health facility patient within the last 14 days who tested positive for COVID-19. If it is determined that the presumption does not apply, the claim shall be evaluated pursuant to Sections 3202.5 and 3600. For the purposes of this subdivision, “health facility” means a health facility, as defined in subdivision (a), (b), (c), (m), or (n) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code.
(11) A provider of in-home supportive services under Article 7 (commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of Division 9 of, or Sections 14132.95, 14132.952, and 14132.956 of, the Welfare and Institutions Code, when they provide the in-home supportive services outside their own home or residence.
(b) The term “injury,” as used in this division, includes illness or death resulting from COVID-19 if all of the following circumstances apply:
(1) The employee has tested positive for COVID-19 within 14 days after a day that the employee performed labor or services at the employee’s place of employment at the employer’s direction.
(2) The day referenced in paragraph (1), on which the employee performed labor or services at the employee’s place of employment at the employer’s direction, was on or after July 6, 2020. The date of injury shall be the last date the employee performed labor or services at the employee’s place of employment at the employer’s direction prior to the positive test.
(c) The compensation that is awarded for injury pursuant to this section shall include full hospital, surgical, medical treatment, disability indemnity, and death benefits, as provided by this division.
(d) If an employee has paid sick leave benefits specifically available in response to COVID-19, those benefits shall be used and exhausted before any temporary disability benefits or benefits under Section 4800, 4800.5, or 4850 are due and payable. If an employee does not have those sick leave benefits, the employee shall be provided temporary disability benefits or Section 4850 benefits, if applicable, from the date of disability. There shall not be a waiting period for temporary disability benefits.
(e) An injury described in subdivision (b) is presumed to arise out of and in the course of the employment, except as provided in this subdivision. This presumption is disputable and may be controverted by other evidence. Unless controverted, the appeals board is bound to find in accordance with the presumption. This presumption shall be extended to a person described in subdivision (a) following termination of service for a period of 14 days, commencing with the last date actually worked in the specified capacity at the employee’s place of employment as described in subdivision (b).
(f) Notwithstanding Section 5402, if liability for a claim of a COVID-19-related illness is not rejected within 30 days after the date the claim form is filed pursuant to Section 5401, the illness shall be presumed compensable. The presumption of this subdivision is rebuttable only by evidence discovered subsequent to the 30-day period.
(g) The Department of Industrial Relations shall waive the right to collect any death benefit payment due pursuant to Section 4706.5 arising out of claims covered by this section.
(h) This section applies to all pending matters, unless otherwise specified in this section, but shall not be a basis to rescind, alter, amend, or reopen any final award of workers’ compensation benefits.
(i) For purposes of this section:
(1) “COVID-19” means the 2019 novel coronavirus disease.
(2) Unless otherwise indicated, “test” or “testing” means a PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test approved for use or approved for emergency use by the United States Food and Drug Administration to detect the presence of viral RNA. “Test” or “testing” does not include serologic testing, also known as antibody testing. “Test” or “testing” may include any other viral culture test approved for use or approved for emergency use by the United States Food and Drug Administration to detect the presence of viral RNA which has the same or higher sensitivity and specificity as the PCR Test.
(3) An “employee’s place of employment” does not include an employee’s home or residence.
(j) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2023, and as of that date is repealed.