Workers are returning to their place of work just as record numbers of new daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations hit the United States. Of course, this ushers in a new era Workers Compensation litigation.

While workers’ compensation schemes vary from state to state, they all have the same general goal of compensating workers who are injured while on the job. In Texas and other jurisdictions, the key determination of whether COVID-19 is an “occupational disease,” rather than what is called an “ordinary disease of life,” has not been clarified.