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Employment: Workers Compensation Expanded to Include COVID-19 Related Injury
Eective September 17, 2020 as urgency legislation
Creates disputable presumption for an employee who tested positive for COVID-19 during an outbreak at the place of employment that the illness arose out of and in the course of employment for purposes of workers' compensation claims. Applies to employers of at 􏰀ve employees or more.
Existing law governs the procedures for ling a claim for workers’ compensation, including ling a claim form, and provides that an injury is presumed compensable if liability is not rejected within 90 days after the claim form is led, as specied.
This new law establishes a presumption of compensability for employees who contract COVID-19 from any employer that experiences an "outbreak" of COVID-19 cases at a particular work location.
It denes an "outbreak" as follows:
a) For employers with 5-100 employees, 5 or more employees who worked at a specic work location contracted the disease within a 14-day period;
b) For employers with more than 100 employees, 5% or more of the employees who worked at a specic work location contracted the disease within a 14- day period.
This presumption is rebuttable, and the evidence to rebut the presumption includes, but is not limited to, evidence of measures in place to prevent transmission of COVID-19 and evidence of an employee's non-occupational exposure to COVID- 19.
This law requires an employee to exhaust their paid sick leave benets and meet certication requirements before receiving any temporary disability benets. It also makes a claim relating to a COVID-19 illness presumptively compensable after 30 days or 45 days, rather than 90 days.
This law is repealed on January 1, 2023.
Senate Bill 1159 is codied as Labor Code 3212.86, 3212.87 and 3212.88. Eective on September 17, 2020, as an urgency statute.
Fire: Defensible Space: Creation of ember- resistant zone within 􏰀ve feet of a structure
Establishes, upon appropriation, an ember-resistant zone within 􏰀ve feet of a structure as part of the defensible space requirements for structures located in speci􏰀ed high 􏰀re hazard areas. Requires removal of material from the ember- resistant zone based on the probability that vegetation and fuel will lead to ignition of the structure by ember.
18 The Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS®