Employers Who Fail to Report Positive COVID-19 Results Will Be Subject to High Fines

SB 1159 (opens in new tab) and AB 685 (opens in new tab) were recently signed by Governor Newsom to protect workers by enforcing stricter regulations in the workplace and ensuring a safer workplace in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SB1159

SB 1159 applies to California employers with employees who test positive for COVID-19.

If you have five or more employees,

• You must report the positive test results within three business days of knowledge letting your workers’ comp insurance carrier know that there was a positive test on or after September 17, 2020.
• If you know of any positive test results that occurred between July 6, 2020 and prior to September 17, 2020, you must report each positive test occurrence by October 29, 2020.

If you have less than five total employees, you are not required to report any additional data outside the claim reporting process.

Employers may be subject to civil penalty of up to $10,000 as well as a potential citation for failure to report the required data or for submitting false information. COVID-19 claims will not affect your experience modification (x-mod) and will be excluded from x-mod calculations.

AB685

Under AB685, employers must report known cases to employees who may have been exposed to COVID-19 within one business day. If the number of cases meets the definition of a COVID-19 outbreak, employers must report the outbreak to local public health officials within 48 hours.

How do you determine if the situation is defined as an outbreak? An outbreak is defined as:

• Employers with 100 or less employees at a location – four employees test positive in a 14-day period
• Employers with more than 100 employees at a location – four percent of employees test positive in a 14-day period

Workers’ compensation insurance experts at KCAL would like to remind everyone that workers’ compensation is mandatory for all employers in California (get a quote with us now!), and that all serious injuries in the workplace must be reported to OSHA as soon as possible. Failure to report these injuries can result in high fines. Since regulations for reporting injuries in the workplace have become stricter, it’s important to report injuries within a timely manner. For more information about how to report a fatality or severe injury to OSHA, please see https://www.osha.gov/report.html (opens in new tab). If an accident occurs, contact your workers’ comp insurance specialist or labor law attorney as soon as possible.

If you have any questions about workers’ comp or business insurance, or would like to consult an insurance specialist, feel free to contact KCAL at 626-333-1111.

For more information, you can find the full bill text here:
SB 1159 (opens in new tab)
AB 685 (opens in new tab)

(Source: State Compensation Insurance Fund’s FAQs on SB 1159 (opens in new tab))