Covid-19 scare: Deaths at work raise questions over compensation

Without laws specific to the pandemic, compensation is left to the discretion of companies

As the Covid-19 pandemic rages on in India, firms are debating whether workers who die of the disease, should be treated as cases of “industrial death” and what compensation should be given to them. Contact tracing for such cases, firms say, is a challenge.
 

According to business responsibility advisors, since existing laws do not cover Covid-19, any compensation in this regard has to be left to the discretion of companies.
 

Though most companies are taking the necessary safety measures, multiple cases of Covid-19 infections have been reported at a number of industrial units. Companies are now formulating standard operating procedures