Workers' Compensation - Heart Disease and Hypertension Presumption and Permanent Partial Disability - Carroll County Correctional Deputies
HB 878 expands Maryland workers’ compensation protections for Carroll County correctional deputies. It adds Carroll County correctional deputies to the list of public safety employees who are presumed to have a compensable occupational disease if they develop heart disease or hypertension that results in partial or total disability or death. The bill also makes those deputies eligible for certain permanent partial disability benefit rules that already apply to other public safety employees, and it preserves the existing requirement that covered employees disclose preexisting heart disease or hypertension through a medical examination or report.
The bill is narrowly targeted to Carroll County correctional deputies, rather than changing the workers’ compensation system statewide for all correctional personnel. It also includes a special transition rule for deputies already employed on or before September 30, 2026, requiring disclosure of preexisting conditions by the end of 2026 and limiting the presumption to conditions more severe than those existing at the time of the report. The act applies prospectively to claims arising after its effective date of October 1, 2026.
The bill amends Labor and Employment Article §§ 9-503 and 9-628 to include Carroll County correctional deputies in Maryland’s heart disease and hypertension presumption for workers’ compensation and in the definition of “public safety employee” for permanent partial disability benefits. As a result, Carroll County correctional deputies gain access to presumptive compensability for qualifying heart disease or hypertension claims and to the associated benefit structure, subject to the bill’s conditions and limitations. The law also requires coordination with retirement benefits so that combined benefits do not exceed the employee’s weekly salary, consistent with existing workers’ compensation offsets.
The available record shows no committee transcript or recorded vote breakdown, but the bill’s enactment and gubernatorial approval indicate it moved forward without documented public opposition in the materials provided. The overall sentiment appears supportive and remedial, focused on extending existing occupational disease protections to a specific class of county correctional employees. The bill’s narrow scope and prospective application suggest an effort to address a targeted workforce issue rather than a broad policy change.
The main policy issue is the extension of a presumption that can make heart disease and hypertension claims easier to prove, which may raise cost and liability concerns for Carroll County and its insurer. The bill addresses that concern by limiting the presumption to conditions more severe than any preexisting condition and by requiring medical disclosure for employees already on the job before the transition date. Another point of distinction is that the bill is county-specific, so any debate would likely center on whether Carroll County correctional deputies should receive the same protections already afforded to other public safety employees in Maryland.