This information is provided by Heidi Gomozias, President of CompWise Consulting.
There are new changes to California Workers Compensation laws regarding COVID-19 claims. These changes were passed by the California Legislature on 8/31/2020 and signed into law as SB 1159 by Governor Newsom on 9/17/2020. They apply retroactively to July 6, 2020, and remain effective until January 1, 2023. While there are three different reporting requirements for time-periods designated in SB1159, employers must urgently attend to the second time-period as here described. This applies to all employers with five or more employees.
Employers MUST RETROACTIVELY REPORT ANY TEST POSITIVE COVID19 employees between 3/19/20 through 9/17/20 by OCTOBER 30, 2020
- Employers are required to report to their workers’ compensation carriers the following:
- For each separate location, any employees who tested positive for COVID19
- For each test positive location, the highest number of employees per location who worked within the same location of test positive case
- Reporting is to be done by:
- FAX OR EMAIL to workers’ compensation insurer by OCTOBER 30, 2020
- Must include TEST DATE of COVID test positive (not the date results came back)
- Employers are to omit personal information of COVID positive employee unless the employee is filing a workers’ compensation claim
Failure to comply with the above is subject to a civil penalty up to $10,000 by Labor Commissioner
For your convenience, we have provided links to various Workers’ Comp Insurer reporting forms and email addresses, and fax numbers for COVID19 reporting.
Republic Indemnity
Link to report forms: https://republicindemnity.com/employers/about-workers-comp/sb189-ab2883
Email to SB1159@ri-net.com
Fax to 866-448-1159
ICW
Link to report forms: SB 1159 California Employer Reporting Form
Email to firstnotice@icwgroup.com
Fax to 858-436-8916
CompWest
Link to report forms: https://www.afgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/AF-Group_CA-SB-1159-Reporting-Form_Final.pdf
Email to COVID19@AFGroup.com
Fax to 844-618-3636
Preferred Employers
Link to report forms: https://www.cognitoforms.com/PreferredEmployersInsurance/COVID19PositiveTestReports
Email to firstreport@peiwc.com
Fax to 866-921-7313
Travelers
Link to report forms: https://www.travelers.com/iw-documents/claim/manage-claim/TRV-CA-SB1159-COVID-Exposure-Reporting-Form.pdf
Email to covidexposure@travelers.com
Liberty Mutual
California workers compensation COVID-19 page
Chubb Insurance
the Employer COVID-19 Reporting Form
