The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) has released an FAQ for our industry after receiving many questions about the COVID-19 virus and its potential impacts on workers’ comp.

The page is the start of a series of responses from NCCI regarding the questions they have so far received.

One of the questions is whether COVID-19 is compensable under state WC acts, and NCCI says “maybe”. Some states may classify it as an occupational disease arising from the course of employment, but some states may classify it as an “ordinary disease of life” which would exclude coverage. It looks like some states may be expanding coverage for this specific virus and may introduce initiatives that relate it to workers’ comp.

NCCI also provides state-by-state legislative updates on their “Legislative Activity” page for those who have concerns about their particular jurisdiction.

Another FAQ NCCI received was a hypothetical about a business who is shut down but continues to pay employees even though they are not on premises and are not working. People wonder if that payroll would be included in premium calculations. NCCI stated that the existing rules for wages would still apply for this type of “pandemic event” and the payroll should be included in premium calculation.

Another question was about workers who have been placed in new roles because of limited operations, and what they should be classified as. NCCI stated that the classification may remain the same, or it might change if the employer’s operations have changed to a different classification or the employee’s occupation has changed to a different classification that might be applied to the employer’s policy.

NCCI recommends checking their Basic Manual for many of these questions. Read more in-depth questions and answers on the FAQ page here.