A Florida appellate court on Wednesday upheld an award of benefits to a firefighter for his severe cardiac issues after his diagnosis of COVID-19, based on a statutory presumption that his infection was work-related.
Chad Braden began working for Seminole County as a firefighter in 1993 after a clean pre-employment physical. In the early 2000s, he suffered cardiac problems that Seminole County accepted as compensable, according to Seminole County v. Braden, filed in the Court of Appeal for the 1st District of Florida.
In December 2020, Mr. Braden tested positive for COVID-19. Less than a month later, he suffered a heart attack. Mr. Braden underwent angioplasty but severe complications called for a heart transplant in March 2021.
Mr. Braden filed a workers compensation claim, asserting that his heart attack stemmed from heart disease and that he was entitled to the benefit of a statutory presumption that it was work-related. Seminole County stipulated to the presumption that COVID-19 caused Mr. Braden’s heart disease, heart attack and need for a heart transplant. The county then attempted to rebut the presumption with evidence that Mr. Braden’s COVID-19 exposure was not work-related.
A judge of compensation claims found Seminole County failed to rebut the statutory presumption, noting the medical testimony established a minimum two-day incubation period before someone who is infected can become ill and spread the virus, and that given the timeline of when Mr. Braden and his co-workers tested positive, it was more likely that they infected him than the other way around.
The appeals court ruled that “competent evidence” supports the judge’s determination that the county failed to rebut the statutory presumption.
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