May 1, 2020

Workers’ Compensation provides for two benefits ONLY.  Those benefits are wage replacement and medical benefits.

If you are an essential worker and you have been diagnosed with coronavirus, and you believe that you contracted it from work, you are entitled to file a Workers’ Compensation case with the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board.

You will need to have as much information as possible about your exposure to COVID while you were at work.  If you can not specifically pinpoint the exposure, you will need to document in detail your job description, and how you believe you were exposed. Please notify your agency immediately if you were diagnosed with COVID, or you believe you were exposed to COVID during the course of your work.

If you have NOT been diagnosed with the coronavirus, there is no claim to file at the present time.

This information many change or be modified by the Governor and the New York State legislature in the coming months, as happened with 9/11 cases.  This is a process that is constantly in motion and changing, and the union is monitoring it on a daily basis, and will keep you posted.

Please call Susan McQuade, Health and Safety Coordinator, at 212-924-2000, for more information.