Is Coronavirus Keeping You from Work?

Workers’ Comp and Unemployment Benefits Can Help

New Hampshire requires all employers to provide Workers’ Compensation insurance coverage for their employees.  Benefits are set by law for workers injured at work or who suffer a work related illness or disability.  Catching COVID-19 while at work if documented is a compensable claim for which workers’ compensation would be required to pay. That coverage includes compensation based on your average weekly wage, payment of medical bills, permanent disability awards where applicable, and, if required by the family, death claims.  Consult an attorney about processing you claim if being on the job exposed you to this novel threat.

In the event that you are not able to document the source of contracting COVID-19, or simply face a lay off or a significant cut in your hours, recent Executive Orders have suspended the traditional waiting periods for submitting an unemployment claim.  Unemployment compensation benefits are authorized now without the usual requirements that the worker be ready and able to go to work and actively seeking a job. 

New Hampshire’s Employment Security benefits are more limited than Workers’ Compensation claims but still help workers displaced by this new threat.  The current average unemployment benefit is $333 per week.  The maximum New Hampshire benefit is $427 per week.  The maximum length of time to receive benefits is currently 26 weeks, although additional weeks may become available if a period of prolonged high unemployment becomes the new normal in 2020. 

Visit the NHES page for more information about filing a claim:

https://www.nhes.nh.gov/services/claimants/file.htm.