A Menu of Suggested Provisions for Public Health Mutual Aid Agreements

Workers' Compensation, Death Benefits, & Insurance

Descriptive Note

With respect to declared emergencies, EMAC, Article VIII, provides:

Each party state shall provide for the payment of compensation and death benefits to injured members of the emergency forces of that state and representatives of deceased members of such forces in case such members sustain injuries or are killed while rendering aid pursuant to this compact, in the same manner and on the same terms as if the injury or death were sustained within their own state.

UEVHPA includes a provision that workers’ compensation will be provided by a “host” state to volunteers who are otherwise unprotected by workers’ compensation laws. As with other provisions, consultation with legal counsel is essential to determine the impact of laws relating to workers’ compensation and death benefits.

 

Most, if not all, states, and many other jurisdictions are self-insured. Provisions suggested below relating to purchase or maintenance of insurance obviously have no relevance to those jurisdictions, but government entities not so situated may want to consider such provisions, consistent of course with applicable laws or policies.

 

Requiring parties to provide workers’ compensation and death benefits to their personnel:

• Each Party shall provide, in accordance with its own laws, for the payment of workers’ compensation and death benefits to injured members of the emergency forces of that Party and to representatives of deceased members of those forces if the members sustain injuries or are killed while rendering aid to another Party pursuant to this Agreement, in the same manner and on the same terms as if the injury or death were sustained within its own jurisdiction.
  
   
• Each Party shall be responsible for injuries or death of its own personnel. Each Party will maintain workers’ compensation insurance or self-insurance coverage, covering its own personnel while they are providing assistance pursuant to this Agreement. Each Party waives the right to sue any other Party for any workers’ compensation benefits paid to its own employee or volunteer or their dependants, even if the injuries were caused wholly or partially by the negligence of any other Party or its officers, employees, or volunteers.
  
   

Requiring (or not requiring) purchase and maintenance of general insurance coverage:

• Each Party shall procure and maintain, at its sole and exclusive expense, insurance coverage, including: comprehensive liability, personal injury, property damage, worker’s compensation, and, if applicable, emergency medical service professional liability, with minimum limits of $1,000,000 auto and $1,000,000 combined single limit general liability and professional liability. No Party shall have any obligation to provide or extend insurance coverage for any of the items enumerated herein to any other Party or its personnel. The obligations of this provision may be satisfied by a Party’s membership in a self-insurance pool, a self-insurance plan or arrangement with an insurance provider approved by a government authority. Upon request of a Party, Parties shall provide evidence of compliance with this provision.
  
   
• Each Party shall determine for itself what insurance to procure, if any. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to require any Party to procure insurance.