New California Order to Streamline Workers' Compensation Claims & Establish a Rebuttal Presumption

In order to help ensure access to workers’ compensation benefits, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an Executive Order on May 6 instituting a rebuttable presumption that essential workers who test positive for Covid-19 contracted it as a result of their job duties. The order streamlines workers’ compensation claims and establishes a rebuttable presumption that any essential workers infected with COVID-19 contracted the virus on the job, Newsom said. In effect, the change shifts the burden of proof that typically falls on workers and instead requires companies or insurers to prove that the employees didn’t get sick at work.

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