Nearly 4,000 Federal Workers Seek Disability For Contracting Covid-19

Nearly 4,000 workers are seeking disability compensation for contracting Covid-19 on the job, while the survivors of 60 deceased employees are requesting death benefits, according to a new Labor Department report that, along with a class-action lawsuit launched last week against the Trump administration, illustrates the toll of the pandemic on the federal workforce.

Workers in designated high-risk occupations, such as law enforcement, first responders and front-line medical personnel, can simply show a positive diagnosis to receive compensation under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act, while other occupations will need to prove their contraction of Covid-19 was employment-related.

The majority of the 4,000 existing claims source from three departments: Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and Veterans Affairs.

This report, shedding light on how the pandemic has impacted the federal workforce, follows the amendment of a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration last week.

The lawsuit, originally filed in March, was recently joined by a slew of federal employees from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. military branches, DHS and other agencies claiming additional compensation for exposure to the virus while performing official duties.

The 22 named employees from 13 departments are requesting compensation from when the first U.S. coronavirus case was confirmed on January 27 until now, arguing that in some instances they did not have access to adequate protective equipment when exposed to the virus.

KEY BACKGROUND 

Though the government has not kept a central count of the number of employees who worked through the pandemic, the virus has taken a heavy toll on the federal workforce. Around 19,000 civilian employees have tested positive for the virus, totaling nearly 1% of all federal personnel, according to data from some of the largest agencies. The Defense Department has reported over 5,000 infections among its 750,000 civilian employees last Friday (257 of whom are currently hospitalized) and 24,000 cases among military personnel. The U.S. Postal Service, Bureau of Prisons, Veterans Affairs Department and Customs and Border Protection are also facing high numbers of cases. Many workers have complained that their departments did not offer adequate protection through the pandemic.