By the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United
In response to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, California Nurses Association (CNA) is pleased to cosponsor S.B. 213 (Cortese) to protect California’s frontline nurses and other health care workers by providing presumptive eligibility for workers’ compensation.
California is one of many states that have laws that grant some public safety employees, such as police officers and firefighters, “presumptive eligibility” for workers’ compensation. However, nurses have no such protections at all, even though, by the nature of their work, they suffer some of the highest risks of injury and illness of any profession. This bill would correct this unfair treatment.
Sponsored by CNA and recently introduced by Senator Dave Cortese, S.B. 213 will ensure that nurses and other health care workers have presumptive eligibility for workers’ compensation if they are injured on the job or fall ill to Covid-19 or any other communicable disease.
“Our nurses are at the forefront of our state’s efforts to combat Covid-19, putting their own health at risk every day of this pandemic to provide life-saving treatment and care.” said Senator Dave Cortese. “These frontline heroes deserve adequate and equal protections to ensure their own safety and the safety of all of us.”
“Presumptive eligibility” for workers’ compensation, means that if the employee sustains certain injuries or becomes infected with certain diseases such as Covid-19, the injury or illness is presumed to be job related and makes him or her automatically eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ compensation presumptions exist for certain first responder professions, such as firefighters, because they are inevitably exposed to dozens of potential illnesses as a condition of their work; many of which lead to health issues such as infectious diseases, respiratory diseases, and cancer.
“Nurses across the country still do not have the protections they need during this pandemic, which is why it’s so critical that they are automatically eligible for workers’ comp for Covid-19,” said Bonnie Castillo, RN, executive director of CNA/National Nurses United (NNU). “Nurses are testing positive and contracting Covid-19. Some nurses have been told they contracted their Covid-19 infection in the community and that they should use their sick or vacation time. That is outrageous, especially given the highly contagious nature of the virus that causes Covid-19. Nurses on the front lines of this crisis deserve presumptive eligibility now.”
As of Feb. 8, 2021, there are 89,507 confirmed positive Covid-19 cases of nurses and health care workers, and 32 fatalities among nurses in California.
About the author: The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 170,000 RNs nationwide.
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Joe Santos says
Nurses and doctors chose their profession. Deal with it. But if you want to go down that road, what about the professionals protecting out country, the US military and US Coast Guard?
Vic says
Has Rex apologized for call our brave nurses at AV Hospital tyranneous cowards?
Cowardly Mayor says
We need to protect our nurses and front line medical personnel as much as possible. Even though Mayor Parris called them tyranneous cowards, they are anything but that. Someone who serves as mayor of one city, but doesn’t have the will to live there is the real tyranneous coward.
Dan says
I totally agree. But it’s tyrannous cowards not tyranneous. Either way, it’s not very cool of MP to say but, he rarely says much I agree with. Taking care of COVID-19 Positive patients is difficult at times because the patients aren’t interested in precautions for others at times and that makes the job much riskier. If it were just themselves the the nurses had to worry about, they may be willing to risk these negligent patients but the nurses have their families to worry about as well. COVID-19 is communicable friendly.