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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5250
February Session, 2022
LCO No. 1664
Referred to Committee on LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
Introduced by:
(LAB)
AN ACT CONCERNING MINOR AND TECHNICAL CHANGES TO THE
WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subdivision (10) of section 31-275 of the 2022 supplement 1
to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 2
thereof (Effective from passage): 3
(10) "Employer" means any person, corporation, limited liability 4
company, firm, partnership, voluntary association, joint stock 5
association, the state and any public corporation within the state using 6
the services of one or more employees for pay, or the legal 7
representative of any such employer, but all contracts of employment 8
between an employer employing persons excluded from the definition 9
of employee and any such employee shall be conclusively presumed to 10
include the following mutual agreements between employer and 11
employee: (A) That the employer may accept and become bound by the 12
provisions of this chapter by immediately complying with section 31-13
284; (B) that, if the employer accepts the provisions of this chapter, the 14
employee shall then be deemed to accept and be bound by such 15 Raised Bill No. 5250
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provisions unless the employer neglects or refuses to furnish 16
immediately to the employee, on his or her written request, evidence of 17
compliance with section 31-284 in the form of a certificate from the 18
administrative law judge, the Insurance Commissioner or the insurer, 19
as the case may be; (C) that the employee may, at any time, withdraw 20
his or her acceptance of, and become released from, the provisions of 21
this chapter by giving written or printed notice of his or her withdrawal 22
to the [administrative law judge] chairperson and to the employer, and 23
the withdrawal shall take effect immediately from the time of its service 24
on the [administrative law judge] chairperson and the employer; and 25
(D) that the employer may withdraw his or her acceptance and the 26
acceptance of the employee by filing a written or printed notice of his or 27
her withdrawal with the [administrative law judge] chairperson and 28
with the employee, and the withdrawal shall take effect immediately 29
from the time of its service on the [administrative law judge] 30
chairperson and the employee. The notices of acceptance and 31
withdrawal to be given by an employer employing persons excluded 32
from the definition of employee and the notice of withdrawal to be given 33
by the employee, as provided in this subdivision, shall be served upon 34
the [administrative law judge] chairperson, employer or employee, 35
[either by personal presentation or by registered or certified mail] in 36
accordance with section 31-321, as amended by this act. In determining 37
the number of employees employed by an individual, the employees of 38
a partnership of which he is a member shall not be included. A person 39
who is the sole proprietor of a business may accept the provisions of this 40
chapter by notifying the [administrative law judge] chairperson, in 41
writing, of his or her intent to do so. If such person accepts the 42
provisions of this chapter he shall be considered to be an employer and 43
shall insure his or her full liability in accordance with subdivision (2) of 44
subsection (b) of section 31-284. Such person may withdraw his or her 45
acceptance by giving notice of his or her withdrawal, in writing, to the 46
[administrative law judge] chairperson. Any person who is a partner in 47
a business shall be deemed to have accepted the provisions of this 48
chapter and shall insure his or her full liability in accordance with 49
subdivision (2) of subsection (b) of section 31-284, unless the partnership 50 Raised Bill No. 5250
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elects to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter by notice, in 51
writing and by signed agreement of each partner, to the [administrative 52
law judge] chairperson. 53
Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 31-294c of the general statutes is 54
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 55
passage): 56
(a) No proceedings for compensation under the provisions of this 57
chapter shall be maintained unless a written notice of claim for 58
compensation is given within one year from the date of the accident or 59
within three years from the first manifestation of a symptom of the 60
occupational disease, as the case may be, which caused the personal 61
injury, provided, if death has resulted within two years from the date of 62
the accident or first manifestation of a symptom of the occupational 63
disease, a dependent or dependents, or the legal representative of the 64
deceased employee, may make claim for compensation within the two-65
year period or within one year from the date of death, whichever is later. 66
Notice of claim for compensation may be given to the employer or any 67
administrative law judge and shall state, in simple language, the date 68
and place of the accident and the nature of the injury resulting from the 69
accident, or the date of the first manifestation of a symptom of the 70
occupational disease and the nature of the disease, as the case may be, 71
and the name and address of the employee and of the person in whose 72
interest compensation is claimed. An employee of the state shall send a 73
copy of the notice to the Commissioner of Administrative Services. An 74
employee of a municipality shall send a copy of the notice to the town 75
clerk of the municipality in which he or she is employed. An employer, 76
other than the state or a municipality, may opt to post a copy of where 77
notice of a claim for compensation shall be sent by an employee in the 78
workplace location where other labor law posters required by the Labor 79
Department are prominently displayed. In addition, an employer, 80
opting to post where notice of a claim for compensation by an employee 81
shall be sent, shall forward the address of where notice of a claim for 82
compensation shall be sent to the Workers' Compensation Commission 83
and the commission shall post such address on its Internet web site. An 84 Raised Bill No. 5250
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employer shall be responsible for verifying that information posted at a 85
workplace location is consistent with the information posted on the 86
commission's Internet web site. If an employee, other than an employee 87
of the state or a municipality, opts to mail to his or her employer the 88
written notice of a claim for compensation required under the 89
provisions of this section, such written notice shall be sent by the 90
employee to the employer [by certified mail] in accordance with section 91
31-321, as amended by this act. As used in this section, "manifestation of 92
a symptom" means manifestation to an employee claiming 93
compensation, or to some other person standing in such relation to him 94
that the knowledge of the person would be imputed to him, in a manner 95
that is or should be recognized by him as symptomatic of the 96
occupational disease for which compensation is claimed. 97
Sec. 3. Subsection (b) of section 31-296 of the 2022 supplement to the 98
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 99
thereof (Effective from passage): 100
(b) Before discontinuing or reducing payment on account of total or 101
partial incapacity under any such agreement, the employer or the 102
employer's insurer, if it is claimed by or on behalf of the injured 103
employee that such employee's incapacity still continues, shall notify 104
the administrative law judge and the employee, [by certified mail] in 105
accordance with section 31-321, as amended by this act, of the proposed 106
discontinuance or reduction of such payments. Such notice shall specify 107
the reason for the proposed discontinuance or reduction and the date 108
such proposed discontinuance or reduction will commence. No 109
discontinuance or reduction shall become effective unless specifically 110
approved in writing by the administrative law judge. The employee 111
may request a hearing on any such proposed discontinuance or 112
reduction not later than fifteen days after receipt of such notice. Any 113
such request for a hearing shall be given priority over requests for 114
hearings on other matters. The administrative law judge shall not 115
approve any such discontinuance or reduction prior to the expiration of 116
the period for requesting a hearing or the completion of such hearing, 117
whichever is later. In any case where the administrative law judge finds 118 Raised Bill No. 5250
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that an employer has discontinued or reduced any payments made in 119
accordance with this section without the approval of the administrative 120
law judge, such employer shall be required to pay to the employee the 121
total amount of all payments so discontinued or the total amount by 122
which such payments were reduced, as the case may be, and shall be 123
required to pay interest to the employee, at a rate of one and one-quarter 124
per cent per month or portion of a month, on any payments so 125
discontinued or on the total amount by which such payments were 126
reduced, as the case may be, plus reasonable attorney's fees incurred by 127
the employee in relation to such discontinuance or reduction. 128
Sec. 4. Section 31-321 of the general statutes is repealed and the 129
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 130
Unless otherwise specifically provided, or unless the circumstances 131
of the case or the rules of the commission direct otherwise, any notice 132
required under this chapter to be served upon an employer, employee, 133
[or] administrative law judge or the chairperson shall be by written or 134
printed notice, service personally or by registered or certified mail 135
addressed to the person upon whom it is to be served at the person's 136
last-known residence or place of business. Notices on behalf of a minor 137
shall be given by or to such minor's parent or guardian or, if there is no 138
parent or guardian, then by or to such minor. 139
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 31-275(10)
Sec. 2 from passage 31-294c(a)
Sec. 3 from passage 31-296(b)
Sec. 4 from passage 31-321
Statement of Purpose:
To make minor and technical changes to the Workers' Compensation
Act.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.] Raised Bill No. 5250
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