A Bay Area carpenter contracted COVID at work and brought it home in the midst of the pandemic. His wife contracted the disease and her symptoms were severe; at one point he needed a ventilator to breathe.
But he can't seek workers' compensation for the contamination, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday, July 6, in response to questions from a federal appeals court, because if it's a moral good, that good would be outweighed by the possibility of flooding. . lawsuits that will force businesses to close, slow down courts and dramatically raise commercial insurance rates.
"Recognizing a duty of care to non-employees in this context would impose an intolerable burden on employers and society in violation of public policy," Justice Carol Corrigan wrote in the ruling. "These and other policy considerations lead us to conclude that employers do not have a responsibility to non-employees to prevent the spread of COVID-19."
It was the second major loss for California workers seeking compensation for a family-transmitted COVID infection. Last year, a longtime employee of See's Candies lost her workers' compensation claim after contracting COVID and passing it on to her late husband.
Workers' compensation is inherently a business, Corrigan wrote in a concurring opinion. Workers receive some guarantee that they will be paid if they are injured at work, whether or not they were at fault, and employers can limit the amount and amount of such compensation.
The question then arises whether the employer's obligation to protect its workers from injury extends to their families. Today the court decided not. But the court left the door open for further lawsuits, ruling that spouses of workers who contract COVID can sue employers for abuse of office.
The facts of the case reflect the pressures and tensions surrounding COVID regulations and mainstream businesses in the first year of the pandemic.
There is no doubt that Nevada-based Victory Woodworks ignored San Francisco County health ordinances requiring employers to quarantine potentially infected employees, the court found. Robert Kuciemba worked at the Victory Woodworks construction site for about two months when the company moved potentially infected workers to its San Francisco construction site in the summer of 2020. He worked for them and got infected.
His wife, Corby, contracted COVID-19 from him. He was over 65 and his condition was deteriorating until he was put on a ventilator. The couple sued, alleging that Victory Woodworks' negligence led to his illness.
Although the Kuciembas filed suit in state court, Victory Woodworks took the case to federal court, where it was dismissed, a victory for the carpenter and the state Chamber of Commerce.
Victory Woodworks argued that the consequences of a Kutimbas victory would go far beyond workplace wages.
"There is simply no limit to the size of the network. a wife who claims her husband contracted COVID-19 at a supermarket counter; a husband who claims his wife became infected while visiting a nursing home,” the company said in a statement. in federal court. .
On appeal, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals referred two issues to the California Supreme Court. First, if California workers' compensation law bars an employee's family member from filing a lawsuit against the employer, and second, if the employer's obligation to protect its employees from contracting COVID extends to the home.
During oral arguments in May, state Supreme Court justices expressed concern that a workers' compensation ruling in Kuchiemba's favor would open the door to an "avalanche of litigation" against the companies.
