Ill. Employers Sue Over Designation of COVID-19 as Workplace Occupational Disease

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Two employer associations have sued the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC), protesting its designation of COVID-19 as a workplace occupational disease under the state and federal workers’ compensation acts.

In an April 22 complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Sangamon County (Ill.) Circuit Court, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and Illinois Retail Merchants Association say the IWCC did not have the power to implement the emergency amendments to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act (IWCA).

“Defendants’ brazen usurp of authority now creates a virtually irrefutable presumption that COVID-19 was in fact contracted in the workplace,” the …