Essential Workers Sick with COVID-19 to Demand Workers’ Comp Presumption

On Thursday, May 7, at 11:00 a.m., essential frontline workers who are currently sick or have recovered from COVID-19 will speak out and urge Gov. Ned Lamont to sign an executive order that establishes a workers’ compensation presumption.

Speakers will include a nurse, bus driver, nursing home worker, and a correctional officer, who will tell their personal stories about how they contracted the virus at work. Some of the speakers are struggling to obtain workers’ compensation benefits while at least one speaker has been denied.

Joining them is Eric Chester, an attorney with Ferguson, Doyle, & Chester, who has represented healthcare workers, firefighters, and other frontline workers seeking workers’ compensation benefits.

“Shockingly, these denials assert that a healthcare worker or other frontline worker may not have contracted the dangerous virus in the course of their employment,” said Chester. “This is a betrayal to the workers we are asking to protect us every day by putting themselves in harm’s way. Sick workers will have to exhaust their accumulated sick time, pay for treatment, and will likely suffer a loss in wages while they are forced to navigate a lengthy appeals process with the Workers’ Compensation Commission. They deserve better.”

What: Essential workers who have contracted COVID-19 to urge Gov. Lamont to create a workers’ compensation presumption

When: Thursday, May 7 at 11:00 a.m.

Where: Zoom Press Conference

Who: Four essential frontline workers who have contracted COVID-19 and Eric Chester, attorney with Ferguson, Doyle, & Chester

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The House Democratic Caucus and the entire Senate Democratic Caucus signed onto a letter to Gov. Lamont urging him to establish this presumption.