A new state law, Senate Bill 1159, requires that the Lab reports to the state all cases of employees who have been on-site and tested positive for COVID-19. The Lab is not required to report any cases of a teleworker who tests positive for COVID-19 who has not come on-site, however, the Lab strongly urges remote workers to report any positive cases of COVID-19 to Health Services.
This is done to provide protection to employees who may want to file a workers’ compensation claim in relation to COVID-19 exposure. This new law covers cases from July 6, 2020, going forward.
If a claim is filed, an incident investigation will be conducted by a trained multi-disciplinary team, the same process that is used for any workers’ compensation claim. If there is a presumed case of work-related COVID-19, the investigation must be completed within 30 days.
While the Lab is obligated to share the number of COVID-19 cases that have occurred at the Lab, no identifying personal information is shared. The only information that is reported is the number of cases and the building numbers where the employee worked. If the employee chooses to file a worker’s compensation claim, then the normal worker’s compensation process is filed.
The data is filed through the University of California Office of the President.
