The Minnesota Legislature passed a workers’ compensation bill that will provide workers’ compensation for first responders who contract COVID-19 while on duty.
The House passed the bill 130-4. The Senate followed three hours later with a unanimous vote.
House File 4537 covers workers’ compensation claims for police officers, firefighters, health care workers, child care workers and others who contract COVID-19 at work.
Existing state law says an employer isn’t liable for workers’ compensation for disease or injury, “which cannot be traced to the employment as a direct and proximate cause.”
Under the bill, workers are presumed eligible for workers’ compensation if they show a positive COVID-19 laboratory test or provide a written COVID-19 diagnosis based on the worker’s symptoms from a licensed physician, licensed physician’s assistant or licensed advanced practice registered nurse.
Employers can deny the presumption by showing that the employee either wasn’t exposed to COVID-19 at the workplace or that exposure couldn’t have caused the illness.
House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, said the bill is estimated to cost between $320 million and $580 million.
“We do not want to be in a situation where people feel like they can’t risk their financial future by continuing to serve us,” Winkler said. “We need to do this now and we will figure out the cost.”
One legislator raised concerns about how the government plans to pay.
“It’s very much a concern to me how much all of this is going to cost at the end of the day,” state Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, said.
Most lawmakers voted on the legislation remotely. This provision was removed from the legislature’s previous closed-door negotiations in which they passed a $330 million bill funding coronavirus response.
“It’s easy to find the heroes in this pandemic,” House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said in a statement.
“Our first responders and health care workers are putting themselves on the front line of this battle every day. They need to know we have their backs. We are pleased we were able to come to a consensus on this important issue.”
The agreement was bipartisan.
“In the last week or so I have heard from so many front line workers about how important this is – police officers, firefighters, nurses and health care workers, EMTs, corrections officers at the Faribault Correctional Facility, and so many more,” state Sen. John Jasinski, R-Faribault, said in a statement. “And rightfully so. These people are putting themselves at risk every day to keep the rest of us safe and healthy. This had to get done, and I am glad we were able to accomplish it so quickly.”
Lawmakers haven’t agreed on how they plan to pay for the program, which concerned The League of Minnesota Cities.
The group said the bill “may lead to unprecedented stress on the state’s workers’ compensation system.”
The league said that governments “will have no choice but to pass along these costs to property taxpayers at a time when they can least afford it.”
“[First responders] deserve the best financial protection our state can offer,” the league said in a statement. “We can do that without compromising the future of our workers’ compensation system and further burdening local economies.”
Gov. Tim Walz said he supports the bill.
