The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
CT lawmakers expand workers’ compensation benefits for workplace trauma victims
HARTFORD — The House of Representatives on Thursday put the finishing touches on Senate bills that would open Workers’ Compensation benefits to people who suffer trauma from violence they witness at work; require young drivers to receive education about the use of cannabis; and make sure that public colleges and universities have overall plans for reproductive and maternal care.
Workers throughout the state who suffer from post traumatic stress after witnessing a death or catastrophic injury while on the job would be eligible for up to 52 weeks of worker’s compensation benefits, under legislation that was approved in a 104-44 vote. and sends the bill to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk for final review.
If signed into law, starting January 1, 2024, workers would have a year after such violent events to apply for the benefits, which are currently limited to police, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and emergency 911 dispatchers. Applicants would have to be diagnosed by qualified mental health professionals as suffering from the “direct result” of such traumatic events.
“Folks who have witnessed death, disfigurement of a victim, suffered from a traumatic stress injury as a result, will be covered by this bill,” said Rep. Manny Sanchez, D-New Britain, co-chairman of the legislative Labor Committee, who introduced the bill, which led to a 100minute debate. “While it happens rarely, it does have serious effects on those who experience it.”
But Republicans led by veteran Rep. Tim Ackert of Coventry and Rep. Christie Carpino of Cromwell, warned of the potential cost, particularly to towns and cities that self-insure for Workers’ Compensation claims. While he supports the expansion in general, he could not support the bill.
“If it was maybe a little tighter, but sometimes when we do legislation like this we make it even more broad, that it doesn’t have to just be an incident like this,” Ackert said. “It could be workplace violence or something along that line that you see. I believe that it may make us more uncompetitive than we were.”
Carpino focused on the potential number of claims, which Sanchez could not estimate.
“So if the workers’ compensation rates for these types of claims increase, am I correct to speculate that the rates paid by the employers would increase?” Carpino asked. “I do not know,” Sanchez replied.
“We don’t know how many people this is going to impact,” Carpino said. “We couldn’t even get answers to very basic questions with less than a week left in the session and we started in January.” The session ends at midnight on June 7.
But Peter Tercyak, DNew Britain, a member of the Public Health Committee, expected that such claims will be few. “The worry that it’s going to be everybody, should bother us least in Connecticut,” he said, recalling how for years after the 2012 school murders in Newtown, police were turned down for PTSD benefits under Workers’ Compensation, before the legislature finally approved them. “We are 10 years after Newtown,” Tercyak said. “It was horrible what people went through and survived because of what they saw. We shouldn’t be too worried about the theoretical and should we get swamped.”
Under a wide-ranging Department of Motor Vehicles bill, which passed 147-0, adults and youths seeking their first driver’s licenses would have to take eight-hour courses that include four hours on the effects of alcohol and drugs including cannabis and its effects on reaction time, perception, and peripheral vision.
State colleges and universities would be required to develop plans to provide reproductive health care services, including educational materials about pregnancy, under legislation that passed the House in a 114-34 vote. State Rep. Kate Farrar, DWest Hartford, a member of the Higher Education & Employment Committee, said that the plans would include educational information on maternal mental care and resources for mental health care screening. It also heads to Lamont’s desk for final review.
“The plan shall include but need not be limited to the availability of equipment and licensed health care providers,” Farrar said, adding that telehealth counseling would be included, along with the continuity of care during holiday and vacation periods.
The bill is companion legislation for recent House action on a proposal to allow Plan B emergency contraceptives to be sold in vending machines on college campuses. That legislation awaits action in the Senate.