The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission has withdrawn its April 16, 2020, emergency rule that would have established that all first responders and front-line workers asserting a workers’ compensation claim before the commission based on exposure to COVID-19 would be rebuttably presumed to have been exposed to the virus through their work.

The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association successfully challenged the rule in Sangamon County, Illinois, obtaining a temporary restraining order on April 24, 2020, preventing the rule from being enforced. Sangamon County Circuit Judge John M. Madonia ruled the commission exceeded its authority, finding the rule to be substantive and the commission’s rule-making authority to be limited to procedural matters. In response to the issuance of the TRO, the commission withdrew the rule on April 27.

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Duane Morris has created a COVID-19 Strategy Team to help organizations plan, respond to and address this fast-moving situation. Contact your Duane Morris attorney for more information. Prior Alerts on the topic are available on the team’s webpage.

For More Information

If you have any questions about this Alert, please contact Benjamin A. Johnston, Daniel O. Canales, any of the attorneys in our Chicago office, any member of the COVID-19 Strategy Team or the attorney at the firm with whom you are in regular contact.

Disclaimer: This Alert has been prepared and published for informational purposes only and is not offered, nor should be construed, as legal advice. For more information, please see the firm's full disclaimer.