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covid
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is obviously here to stay with us for a
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while it’s affected all of our lives
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it’s
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changed the world we’ve gone through
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many different things in our existence
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as humans it changed the world and we’ll
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all get through it
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my office is proud i’m the chair of the
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minnesota association for justice
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work comp department i’m in charge of
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willig which is a national workers
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compensation group
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occupational exposure group and when
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kovid came down in march
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my associate mary beth boyce and i were
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part of the team that negotiated and
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actually drafted
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the covid workers compensation bill
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which covered
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first responders police fire nurses
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doctors
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those working in hospitals nursing homes
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and any of those
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first-hand people around covid well
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here we are months potentially years
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later not knowing the effects of this
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and our office is very proud not only
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did we help write the law to protect
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these people
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but we’ve represented many individuals
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who have gone through this
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some people are sicker than others but
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as we’ve talked about
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same thing as a back injury you can hurt
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your back and 10 years later yet back
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injury may not be gone
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we don’t know the true effects of covid
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we are representing people and helping
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people not only in writing the law but
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helping them get their benefits and
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trying to get their life back in order
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after this disease
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there’s an interesting phenomenon
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occurring with covid and
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workers compensation and employment
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issues people who are getting
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sick with covet at work some are
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presumed
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to be sick as a result of their
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covet exposure at work i’ve talked about
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this before
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mary beth boyce and i were part of the
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team that helped write the legislation
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for first responders people in nursing
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homes doctors
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to be presumed to have covet at work
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there are also those individuals who
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aren’t presumed to be the grocery
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workers
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union workers people who are just around
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it and they have a right to workers
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compensation claims as well
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an interesting issue that’s come up is
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because people who are exposed in the
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course and scope of their employment
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have to prove
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that covid came from work and obviously
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covet is out there everywhere
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some of those people are bringing home
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the disease the virus and making family
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members sick
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and people have called us and asked what
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are the family members rights because
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clearly they got it because somebody
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brought it home from their work
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activities
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or at least potentially so we’re also
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looking into claims
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that employers have been given
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guidelines since march by different
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states and by the federal government
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by medical providers there’s been
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articles in the new england journal of
02:38
medicine as to how to handle this
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to potentially bring cases against those
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employers who don’t
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keep their safety regulations the way
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they should don’t keep their offices
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safe
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are not trying to protect their
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employees in the general public we’re
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proud to be looking into those cases as well