Researcher: LRH Page 1 4/15/21
OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 6478
AN ACT CONCERNING WORKERS' COMPENSATION.
SUMMARY
This bill makes several changes in the workers’ compensation laws.
It creates a rebuttable presumption that employees who were unable to
work due to contracting COVID-19 and meet certain other criteria (e.g.,
did not work solely from home during the previous 14 days)
contracted it as an occupational disease arising out of and in the course
of employment (thus, making them eligible for workers’ compensation
benefits).
To rebut the presumption, the bill requires that employers
demonstrate by a preponderance of evidence that the employee’s
employment did not directly cause his or her COVID-19. In effect, this
shifts the burden of proof in the case from the employee to the
employer. If the employer successfully rebuts the presumption, the
employee’s claim must still be decided on its merits, but the employee
must prove that he or she contracted the disease in the course of
employment (as under current law).
The bill also:
1. requires the Workers’ Compensation Commission to submit
monthly reports with various data on COVID-19 claims;
2. creates a $20,000 workers’ compensation burial benefit for
employees who die due to contracting COVID-19 in the course
of employment and increases the current burial benefit from
$4,000 to $20,000;
3. increases the maximum duration of additional partial
permanent disability benefits that a compensation
commissioner may order; 2021HB-06478-R000472-BA.DOCX
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4. prohibits employers from (a) disciplining employees for filing a
workers’ compensation claim or (b) deliberately misinforming
or dissuading them from filing a claim (which codifies
Executive Order 7JJJ (2020)); and
5. requires employers or insurers to file a notice of controversy
when they dispute a request for medical or nursing services.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
§ 4 — COVID-19 REBUTTABLE PRESUM PTION
Presumption
For adjudicating workers’ compensation claims, the bill requires
that an employee who died or was unable to work due to contracting
COVID-19, or having symptoms later diagnosed as COVID-19, is
presumed to have contracted it as an occupational disease arising out
of and in the course of employment (making them eligible for workers’
compensation benefits) if:
1. the death or lost work occurred during (a) the current COVID-
19 public health and civil preparedness emergencies or (b) new
ones declared by the governor because of a COVID-19 outbreak
in the state;
2. the contraction of COVID-19 is confirmed by a positive lab test
or, if one is not available, diagnosed based on the employee’s
symptoms and documented by a licensed physician, physician
assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse;
3. a copy of the test or diagnosis documentation is provided to the
employer or insurer; and
4. the employee did not, during the 14 consecutive days
immediately before the employee’s death or inability to work,
(a) work solely from home, with no physical interaction with
other employees, or (b) receive an individualized written offer
or directive to work solely from home, but otherwise chose to
work at the employer’s worksite. 2021HB-06478-R000472-BA.DOCX
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The bill specifies that COVID-19 is an occupational disease for those
diagnosed with it as described above. In effect, this gives them three
years from the first manifestation of a symptom to file a workers’
compensation claim (see CGS § 31-294c).
Employer Rebuttal
The bill allows employers or insurers to rebut the presumption if
they clearly demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that the
employee’s employment did not directly cause his or her COVID-19.
The employer or insurer must provide evidence to rebut the
presumption within 10 days after filing a notice to contest the claim.
Under the bill, if the employer successfully rebuts the presumption,
a compensation commissioner must still decide the employee’s claim
on its merits under the established practices of causation (i.e., the
employee would have to prove that he or she contracted the disease in
the course of employment). The bill additionally specifies that an
employee who contracted COVID-19 but does not qualify for the
presumption is not precluded from making a general workers’
compensation claim.
The bill requires that an employee’s pre-existing condition have no
bearing on the merits of a claim, both for approving it and continuing
benefits that have been awarded. It also specifies that the bill’s
reapportioning of the levels of the burden of proofs between the
parties is a procedural change intended to apply to all existing and
future COVID-19 claims.
Report
The bill requires the Workers’ Compensation Commission, from
July 1, 2021, to January 1, 2023, to provide monthly reports on COVID-
19 claims to the Labor and Public Employees and Insurance
committees. The reports must include the:
1. number of total COVID-19 workers’ compensation claims filed
since May 10, 2020;
2. number of record-only (i.e., uncontested) claims filed by 2021HB-06478-R000472-BA.DOCX
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hospitals, nursing homes, municipalities, and other employers,
listed by employer name;
3. number of COVID-19 workers’ compensation cases filed by
state employees in each agency;
4. number of these claims contested by each individual employer,
including state agencies, third-party administrators, and
insurers, by client;
5. reasons cited by each employer, including state agencies, third-
party administrators, or insurers, by client, for contesting the
claims;
6. number of claims that have had a hearing with the commission;
7. number of (a) commission rulings on appealed claims, (b)
approved voluntary agreements, (c) findings and awards, (d)
findings and dismissals, (e) petitions for review, and (f)
stipulations;
8. average time it took to schedule an initial hearing after one was
requested; and
9. average time it took to adjudicate contested COVID-19 workers’
compensation claims.
The bill requires employers, including state agencies, third-party
administrators, and insurers, to comply with all requests from the
Workers’ Compensation Commission for information it must include
in the reports.
§ 5 — BURIAL EXPENSES
The bill establishes a $20,000 workers’ compensation benefit for
burial expenses in any case in which the employee died due to
contracting COVID-19 during the current COVID-19 public health and
civil preparedness emergencies or new ones declared by the governor
because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the state. 2021HB-06478-R000472-BA.DOCX
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It also increases the current standard benefit for burial expenses
from $4,000 to $20,000 once the bill passes. Then, starting on January 1,
2022, the bill requires the standard benefit to be annually adjusted by
the previous calendar year’s percentage increase in the Consumer
Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers in the
Northeast.
§ 1 — ADDITIONAL PERMANENT PARTIAL DISABILITY BENEFITS
Existing law allows a workers’ compensation commissioner to
award additional benefits to a claimant who has exhausted his or her
partial permanent disability (PPD) benefits. Current law limits the
maximum duration of these additional benefits to the lesser of (1) the
duration of the claimant’s PPD benefits or (2) 520 weeks. The bill
increases this limit to the lesser of (1) five times the duration of the
claimant’s PPD benefits or (2) 780 weeks. It also requires the
commissioner to determine whether the disability is substantial
enough to allow awarding the benefits past the original duration of the
employee’s PPD benefits.
By law and unchanged by the bill, these additional benefits are only
available to employees (1) who are willing and able to work in
Connecticut and (2) when the nature of their injury and its effect on
their earning capacity warrants it.
§ 2 — EMPLOYER DISCIPLINE AND MISINFORMATION
Current law prohibits employers from discharging or
discriminating against an employee because the employee filed a
workers’ compensation claim or exercised his or her rights under the
workers’ compensation law. The bill expands this protection to also
prohibit employers from (1) disciplining employees for filing a claim
or exercising their rights or (2) deliberately misinforming or
dissuading them from filing a claim.
As under current law, employees subjected to a violation may either
bring a lawsuit in Superior Court or file a complaint with the Workers’
Compensation Commission. 2021HB-06478-R000472-BA.DOCX
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§ 3 — NOTICE OF CONTROVERS Y
The bill requires an employer or insurer to file a notice of
controversy (presumably with a workers’ compensation
commissioner) when there is a dispute over whether a workers’
compensation-related request for medical or surgical aid or hospital
and nursing services, including mechanical aids and prescriptions, is
reasonable or necessary. The employer or insurer must also send a
copy of the notice to the originator of the request.
The bill allows a health care provider, employee, or other interested
party to request a hearing about paying for the disputed medical and
related services. It also specifies that (1) payment of the medical bill by
an employer or insurer is not an admission of the reasonableness of
subsequent medical bills and (2) it does not affect other workers’
compensation provisions for notices of a claim for compensation or
notices contesting liability.
BACKGROUND
Related Bills
sHB 6595 (§§ 1-4) and sSB 1002 (§§ 1-4), both favorably reported by
the Labor and Public Employees Committee, contain provisions
identical to §§ 2-5 of this bill.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 9 Nay 4 (03/25/2021)