NSW to Roll-Back Broad COVID-19 Worker Protection Bill That Presumed Workers Caught COVID-19 at Work

Staff member serves drinks during lunch trade at a bar in Moss Vale, Australia, on Oct. 30, 2021. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

The NSW government plans to roll back a special amendment made for frontline workers early in the pandemic that assumed those who tested positive for COVID-19 would have caught it from work.

Workers will still be entitled to compensation if they can show that they contracted COVID-19 in their workplace, the premier said, adding the update was “both fair to employees and ensuring businesses aren’t hit with an unexpected spike in their insurance bills.”

The special COVID-19 amendment was added to the Workers Compensation Act in May 2020, soon after the start of the pandemic. It had made it easy for workers risking their health and safety in retail, healthcare, hospitality, and other frontline industries to file a workers’ compensation claim if they presumably caught COVID-19 in the course of their employment. In effect, the amendment placed the cost of catching COVID-19, which originated from Wuhan, China, on the shoulders of Australian businesses.