The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission has withdrawn an emergency rule it passed just weeks ago that would have made it easier for essential workers to claim they became sick with COVID-19 while on the job.

The withdrawal comes in the face of a Sangamon County Circuit Court decision granting an emergency request by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association to block the new rule. The court found that in passing the emergency rule, which created a rebuttable presumption that essential workers who become sick with COVID-19 contracted it in the course of their employment, the Commission exceeded its rulemaking authority under the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act and the Illinois Workers Compensation Act. Under these laws, the Commission only has the authority to create procedural rules. The court determined the Commission had improperly created “new substantive rights for employees and new liabilities for employers,” which is the province of the Illinois Legislature, not the Commission.
Continue Reading Illinois withdraws rebuttable presumption rule for COVID-19 workers’ compensation claims