Virginia Governor Ralph Northam passed a new law last week in the Commonwealth allowing healthcare workers to collect on lost wages or medical expenses because of the coronavirus. There is a catch, however. To qualify for the benefits under this new law, healthcare workers must have taken the COVID-19 vaccine.

HB 1985 was drafted by Blacksburg Delegate Chris Hurst. Under the new law, it would be considered an occupational hazard if health care workers who have come in contact with patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus have suffered death or disability from the virus. Because it would be considered an occupational hazard, healthcare workers can now collect on workers' compensation insurance benefits. Before this law, it would have been difficult to prove where a healthcare worker would have contracted the virus, even if they worked with patients who tested positive for it. The National Conference of State Legislatures explains, “Workers deemed essential including health care workers, mass transit operators and grocery store workers are at a high risk of exposure to the virus while at work. But the more hazardous working conditions do not guarantee that a COVID-19 infection would be covered under workers’ compensation in most states.”

Under the new Virginia bill, the burden of where the virus was contracted will no longer fall to healthcare workers. Instead, it will be presumed that the contraction was from the workplace. The law is retroactive and would apply to anyone who contracted the virus on March 12, 2020, or after.

This new law would open the door for virtually hundreds of healthcare workers to take advantage of workers' compensation because of the virus. According to the Virginia Nurses Association, only 1% of Virginia’s healthcare workers have received workers' compensation associated with the virus. In a Facebook post, the association shared, “Unfortunately, too many Virginia nurses caught COVID-19 while treating patients. For those that got very sick, there is no easy way to file for workers’ compensation, and many have suffered not only physically, but financially.”

The caveat to this new law, however, is that if a healthcare worker’s employer has offered them the opportunity to take a vaccine, the employee must have taken it. The bill does allow a medical exemption for individuals who may have an adverse reaction to the vaccine.

After the bill passed, Hurst tweeted “We did it! Health care heroes who got COVID on the job will get the retroactive worker's comp presumption they deserve!”

This new bill has some critics worrying about vaccine mandates that are attached to employment benefits, especially since the vaccines were pushed through on an emergency basis by the FDA. Many doctors have advocated for patient rights, explaining that patients should choose whether or not they get vaccinated while the national narrative continues to encourage vaccination. One Virginia pediatrician, Dr. Liz Mumper, shared, “Whenever there is risk to an individual, there must be choice.”

Bills similar to the legislation passed in Virginia have been brought forth in Maryland, Indiana, and Illinois. Currently, 17 states along with Puerto Rico are taking steps to cover employee contractions of COVID-19 as a work-related illness that qualify for worker's compensation. Some states are limiting this workplace compensation coverage to healthcare workers only while other states are extending coverage for first responders as well.