Impact Of COVID-19 On Workers’ Compensation Industry

There is much discussion right now on the impact that COVID-19 (Coronavirus) will have on workers’ compensation. Most of this discussion has focused on the potential for claims activity arising from the virus.

The determination of whether a communicable disease is “work-related” is a case-by-case evaluation. The large employers that I work with tend to retain risk on both their workers’ compensation and employee benefits programs.

Thus, they are not concerned about which financial bucket the money comes from but are prioritizing caring for their workforce instead.

Potential claims arising from COVID-19 are not the focus of this column. Instead, I’m looking at how the challenges arising from this virus will affect the workers’ compensation industry.