Cancer claims receive presumptions for certain hazardous-duty officers

Certain cancer-related disabilities or deaths are presumed to come from employment for qualifying peace officers. The provision covers full-time peace officers regularly assigned to hazardous duty in special operations, SWAT, explosive-ordinance-disposal, or hazardous-materials-response units. The officer must have passed a pre-employment physical examination that showed no cancer. The officer must have served on hazardous duty for at least five years. The listed cancers are adenocarcinoma, bladder, brain, colon, rectal, or respiratory-tract mesothelioma, leukemia, and lymphoma. The presumption does not apply to respiratory-tract cancers when off-duty tobacco exposure was a substantial contributing cause. Clear and convincing evidence of another specific cause may rebut the presumption. The provision applies to officers currently serving and to former officers age 65 or younger who receive a listed cancer diagnosis within 15 years after their last date of employment.

Certain cancer-related disabilities or deaths are presumed to come from employment for qualifying firefighters and fire investigators. The provision covers full-time firefighters regularly assigned to hazardous duty and full-time municipal or fire-district employees who investigate fire or explosion causes. The worker must have passed a pre-employment physical examination that showed no cancer and must have served on hazardous duty for at least five years. For firefighters and specified listed cancers, the firefighter must also have received a physical examination reasonably aligned with NFPA 1582, a national occupational medical standard. The listed cancers include several cancers affecting the respiratory and digestive systems, skin, blood, reproductive organs, kidney, prostate, breast, and other specified conditions. The presumption does not apply to respiratory-tract cancers when off-duty tobacco exposure was a substantial contributing cause. Clear and convincing evidence of another specific cause may rebut the presumption. The provision applies to workers currently serving and to former workers age 65 or younger who receive a listed cancer diagnosis within 15 years after their last date of employment. It applies retroactively from after June 30, 2021.