A COVID-19 no-brainer: Don’t leave Washington health workers exposed without benefits

Healthcare workers have made sacrifices during this pandemic that make most Washingtonians’ daily inconveniences seem petty by comparison.

They walk into hospital and nursing home rooms every day, unsure if a patient might be shedding coronavirus. They live apart from family, just in case they’ve been infected. They pick up extra shifts from colleagues in quarantine. At times they’ve dealt with inadequate supplies of personal protective equipment, or entered rooms not clearly marked as having COVID-19 patients.

Providing front-line caregivers with secure wages and other presumptive benefits during this nearly year-long health public-health emergency should be a no-brainer. That some infected workers have exhausted their personal-leave banks is unacceptable.

That’s why Washington lawmakers should approve Senate Bill 5190 with strong bipartisan accord.

When firefighters in our state get sick with certain cancers or other occupational illnesses, it’s presumed to have happened on the job so they can collect workers compensation benefits. The same is true for cops who suffer certain heart conditions.

Basic fairness and common sense dictate that these standards apply to nurses and other healthcare workers during an untamed global infectious-disease crisis.

On Thursday, the bill took a promising step toward a vote on the Senate floor; it advanced out of the Senate Labor, Commerce & Tribal Affairs Committee with a “do pass” recommendation.

“We want to take away the antagonism about ‘where did you get infected?’” said Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, who chairs the committee and is a co-sponsor of SB5190.

Like many Washingtonians, Keiser has a personal connection to this issue. Her daughter is an emergency medical technician who’s had to take time off work after being exposed to the virus five times.

The bill would guarantee workers’-comp coverage for healthcare professionals who can’t work due to contracting or being exposed to COVID-19 or other disease subject to a public health emergency declared by the governor. It also would qualify these workers for unemployment insurance if they’re terminated during the emergency or had to leave work to quarantine.

There’s an exception if an employer provides clear and convincing evidence that exposure happened outside the workplace, or if the employee was working from home during the 14-day exposure period.

We’re encouraged that the bill enjoys good bipartisan support. Its lead sponsor, Sen. Jeff Holy, R-Cheney, was spot on in testimony he gave at a Jan. 28 public hearing; he said it would be unthinkable to send troops to the front lines of a war without coverage, so it’s “unconscionable” to let healthcare professionals work during a pandemic without presumptive benefits.

It’s true that other government-sponsored leave programs are available. It’s also true that under Gov. Jay Inslee’s proclamation, healthcare workers can file workers’-comp claims. Roughly 3,700 such claims have been filed during the pandemic, and only 117 were rejected, according to a Department of Labor & Industries spokeswoman.

She added, however, that the number of filings was low compared to overall disease exposure.

Giving presumptive benefits the force of law will send an unmistakable message to healthcare workers that they won’t be left in the lurch.

It also may prevent hardships like what happened to Scott Lawrence, an emergency room technician in Spokane. He returned to work in mid-January after a scary bout with COVID-19 that put him in the intensive care unit for 11 days.

“I can’t take time off now because my sick bank is empty, and I can’t even take a vacation,” Lawrence told the Senate committee. “A worker keeping the community safe should have peace of mind that we can take care of ourselves if we fall sick during this crisis.”

Still short of breath from his illness, Lawrence labored to get his words out. But we heard him loud and clear, and we unequivocally embrace the urgency of his appeal.

One hopes the Washington Legislature does, too.

This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 5:45 AM.