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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6954
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 4101
Referred to Committee on LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
Introduced by:
(LAB)
AN ACT ADDING WITNESSING A SERIOUS PHYSICAL INJURY AS A
QUALIFYING EVENT FOR PURPOSES OF POST -TRAUMATIC
STRESS INJURY WORKERS' COMPENSATION COVERAGE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 31-294k of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 2
1, 2025): 3
(a) As used in this section: 4
(1) "COVID-19" means the respiratory disease designated by the 5
World Health Organization on February 11, 2020, as coronavirus 2019, 6
and any related mutation thereof recognized by the World Health 7
Organization as a communicable respiratory disease; 8
(2) "Eligible individual" means a police officer, firefighter, emergency 9
medical services personnel, Department of Correction employee, 10
telecommunicator or health care provider, and on and after January 1, 11
2024, an employee; 12
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(3) "Emergency medical services personnel" has the same meaning as 13
provided in section 20-206jj; 14
(4) "Employee" has the same meaning as provided in section 31-275; 15
(5) "Firefighter" has the same meaning as provided in section 7-313g; 16
(6) "Health care provider" means (A) a person employed at a doctor's 17
office, hospital, health care center, clinic, medical school, local health 18
department or agency, nursing facility, retirement facility, nursing 19
home, group home, home health care provider, any facility that 20
performs laboratory or medical testing, pharmacy or any similar 21
institution, or (B) a person employed to provide personal care 22
assistance, as defined in section 17b-706, in or about a private dwelling, 23
provided such person is regularly employed by the owner or occupier 24
of the dwelling for more than twenty-six hours per week; 25
(7) "In the line of duty" means any action that an eligible individual 26
is obligated or authorized by law, rule, regulation or written condition 27
of employment service to perform, or for which the eligible individual 28
is compensated by the public entity such individual serves, except that, 29
in the case of a volunteer firefighter, such action or service constitutes 30
fire duties, as defined in subsection (b) of section 7-314b; 31
(8) "Mental health professional" means a board-certified psychiatrist 32
or a psychologist licensed pursuant to chapter 383, who has experience 33
diagnosing and treating post-traumatic stress injury; 34
(9) "Parole officer" means an employee of the Department of 35
Correction who supervises inmates in the community after their release 36
from prison on parole or under another prison release program; 37
(10) "Police officer" has the same meaning as provided in section 7-38
294a, except that "police officer" does not include an officer of a law 39
enforcement unit of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe or the Mohegan 40
Tribe of Indians of Connecticut; 41
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(11) "Post-traumatic stress injury" means an injury that meets the 42
diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder as specified in the 43
most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association's 44
"Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders"; 45
(12) "Qualifying event" means: 46
(A) An event occurring in the line of duty on or after July 1, 2019, in 47
which a police officer, parole officer, firefighter, emergency medical 48
services personnel, Department of Correction employee or 49
telecommunicator: 50
(i) Views a deceased minor; 51
(ii) Witnesses the death of a person or an incident involving the death 52
of a person; 53
(iii) Witnesses an injury to a person who subsequently dies before or 54
upon admission at a hospital as a result of the injury and not as a result 55
of any other intervening cause; 56
(iv) Has physical contact with and treats an injured person who 57
subsequently dies before or upon admission at a hospital as a result of 58
the injury and not as a result of any other intervening cause; 59
(v) Carries an injured person who subsequently dies before or upon 60
admission at a hospital as a result of the injury and not as a result of any 61
other intervening cause; [or] 62
(vi) Witnesses a traumatic physical injury that results in the loss of a 63
vital body part or a vital body function that results in permanent 64
disfigurement of the victim; or 65
(vii) On and after October 1, 2025, witnesses a serious physical injury 66
to a person that does not result in the death of such person or the loss of 67
a vital body part or a vital body function that results in a permanent 68
disfigurement of such person; 69
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(B) An event arising out of and in the course of employment on or 70
after March 10, 2020, in which an eligible individual who is a health care 71
provider is engaged in activities substantially dedicated to mitigating or 72
responding to the public health and civil preparedness emergencies 73
declared by the Governor on March 10, 2020, or any extension of such 74
emergency declarations; and: 75
(i) Witnesses the death of a person due to COVID-19 or due to 76
symptoms that were later diagnosed as COVID-19; 77
(ii) Witnesses an injury to a person who subsequently dies as a result 78
of COVID-19 or due to symptoms that were later diagnosed as COVID-79
19; 80
(iii) Has physical contact with and treats or provides care for a person 81
who subsequently dies as a result of COVID-19 or due to symptoms that 82
were later diagnosed as COVID-19; or 83
(iv) Witnesses a traumatic physical injury that results in the loss of a 84
vital body function of a person due to COVID-19 or due to symptoms 85
that were later diagnosed as COVID-19; or 86
(C) An event arising out of and in the course of employment on and 87
after January 1, 2024, in which an employee: 88
(i) Views a deceased minor; 89
(ii) Witnesses the death of a person or an incident involving the death 90
of a person; 91
(iii) Witnesses an injury to a person who subsequently dies before or 92
upon admission at a hospital as a result of the injury and not as a result 93
of any other intervening cause; 94
(iv) Has physical contact with and treats an injured person who 95
subsequently dies before or upon admission at a hospital as a result of 96
the injury and not as a result of any other intervening cause; 97
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(v) Carries an injured person who subsequently dies before or upon 98
admission at a hospital as a result of the injury and not as a result of any 99
other intervening cause; [or] 100
(vi) Witnesses a traumatic physical injury that results in the loss of a 101
vital body part or a vital body function that results in permanent 102
disfigurement of the victim; or 103
(vii) On and after October 1, 2025, witnesses a serious physical injury 104
to a person that does not result in the death of such person or the loss of 105
a vital body part or a vital body function that results in permanent 106
disfigurement of such person; 107
(13) "Serious physical injury" has the same meaning as provided in 108
section 53a-3; 109
[(13)] (14) "Telecommunicator" has the same meaning as provided in 110
section 28-30; and 111
[(14)] (15) "Witnesses" means, for an eligible individual who is a 112
telecommunicator, hears by telephone or radio while directly 113
responding to an emergency call that constitutes a qualifying event 114
under this section and providing a dispatch assignment. 115
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 31-294k(a)
Statement of Purpose:
To add witnessing a serious physical injury to a person that does not
result in the death or permanent disfigurement of such person as a
qualifying event for an employee to be eligible for workers'
compensation coverage for a post-traumatic stress injury.
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[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.]