Public Health Law Map - Beta 5 - Medical and Public Health Law Site

workplace, their legal status is not well defined.
Immunosuppressed individuals are disabled under the federal law and are entitled to
work if they meet the other requirements of the law. If a secondary infection such as
active tuberculosis threatens other workers or third parties, the infected person may
be removed from the workplace. The difficult question is whether
immunosuppressed persons may be denied employment to protect them from
workplace-acquired infections. It is argued that the worker has the right to accept
the risk of infection. Workers’ compensation laws, however, do not allow the
worker to accept the financial risk of workplace injury. The employer must pay for
the costs of treatment or disability if the immunosuppressed worker becomes
infected in the workplace, irrespective of the employee’s assumption of the risk of
infection.
2. The Legal Risks of Communicable Diseases
Communicable diseases in the workplace pose three classes of risk: (1) workers’
compensation liability, (2) third-party liability, and (3) productivity losses. All three
are potentially very expensive, yet have been accorded scant attention from
employers or employees. The HIV epidemic has sensitized employees and employers
to the problems of workplace-acquired infections. As declining health insurance
coverage forces more persons to seek compensation through the courts for illness,
workers’ compensation claims for workplace- acquired infections will increase.
Workers’ compensation laws are not limited to accidents or occupational illnesses;
they cover all illnesses and injuries acquired in the workplace, including
communicable diseases and intentional injuries such as rape. The employee is
entitled to the cost of medical care, disability, and lost time for work. In return, the
law prevents the employee from suing the employer for the more extensive damages
available in tort litigation. This exemption is important because some usually mild
diseases can cause serious injuries in adults. Mumps can cause sterility, measles
sometimes kills, chicken pox can cause brain injury, and tuberculosis can require
long-term treatment.
Earlier in this century, it was common for employees to claim compensation for
communicable diseases such as typhoid caught from the company water supply. As
the public awareness of communicable diseases diminished, claims for workplace-
acquired infections decreased. Even medical care workers, who have a high rate of
morbidity from workplace infections, have tended to rely on group health coverage
for workplace- acquired infections rather than workers’ compensation. Progressive
reductions in group health coverage and reduced job security are causing workers to
seek workers’ compensation for illnesses that in the past would not have resulted in
compensation claims. This will require physicians to be more sensitive to the
epidemiology of workplace-acquired infections.
a) Third-Party Liability
652