firefighters; occupational disease; cancers

Retroactive cancer claim protections for Arizona firefighters

Arizona’s workers’ compensation cancer protections for firefighters and fire investigators apply retroactively to periods after June 30, 2021. The law treats 23 listed cancers causing disability or death as work-related, making claims easier to prove. Covered workers must have passed a pre-employment exam showing no cancer and completed at least five years of hazardous duty. For specified cancers, firefighters also need an exam reasonably aligned with the NFPA 1582 firefighter medical standard. Former firefighters and fire investigators must be 65 or younger when diagnosed, within 15 years after their last employment. Respiratory-tract cancers are excluded when off-duty tobacco exposure substantially contributed. Employers or insurers can defeat the presumption only with clear and convincing evidence that a specific nonwork-related carcinogenic cause more likely caused the cancer.