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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 7141
AN ACT CONCERNING COMPENSATION PAID TO INJURED
EMPLOYEES AND THE PARENTS OF A DECEASED EMPLOYEE
UNDER THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT.
SUMMARY
This bill makes various changes to workers’ compensation benefits
and related services.
It removes an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) discretion to award
temporary partial incapacity benefits instead of permanent, partial
disability (PPD) benefits once an injured employee reaches maximum
medical improvement (see BACKGROUND) . Generally, temporary
partial incapacity benefits are 75% of the difference between the
employee’s net (after tax and Social Security deductions) regular wage
and what he or she earns by working at a reduced capacity, but they
may be up to 75% of the employee’s net regular wage if the employee
cannot find suitable employment. PPD benefits vary, and are for the
permanent, partial reduction in function or loss of a body part (see
BACKGROUND ).
The bill increases the duration of PPD benefits for a cervical spine
injury that an injured worker may receive from 117 to 208 weeks as of
July 1, 2025. Starting on that date, the bill also expands the list of injuries
eligible for PPD benefits to include the:
1. intestinal tract (347 weeks),
2. esophagus (180 weeks),
3. trachea (117 weeks),
4. larynx (117 weeks), and
5. diaphragm (117 weeks). 2025HB-07141-R000784-BA.DOCX
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The bill also allows a deceased employee’s parents, when there are no
dependents for distribution of workers’ compensation benefits, to each
receive an equal portion of the benefits.
Lastly, the bill establishes a working group to study rehabilitation
services available to injured employees under the state’s Workers’
Compensation Act.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
ELIGIBILITY FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF BENEFITS
The bill requires an ALJ to award PPD benefits to an injured
employee who is eligible for them. It removes the ALJ’s discretion to
instead award temporary partial incapacity benefits. Under existing
law, the right to PPD benefits begins after the employee reaches
maximum medical improvement for the injury (CGS § 31-295(c)).
Under the bill, if these employees reach maximum medical
improvement but their injuries continue to result in total incapacity to
work, they remain eligible to receive total incapacity benefits until the
period of total incapacity ends.
These provisions apply to any matter (1) filed with the Workers’
Compensation Commission on or after July 1, 1993, that is open and
pending before the commission when the bill passes or (2) filed with the
commission on or after the bill passes.
COMPENSATION UPON AN EMPLOYEE’S DEATH
Under existing law, when employees with no presumptive
dependents (such as a spouse or minor children) die due to a work-
related accident, anyone who was wholly dependent in fact upon them
may receive their workers’ compensation benefits. In cases where there
are no such dependents, the bill allows for these benefits to be divided
equally among the deceased employee’s parents.
Under existing law, and unchanged by the bill, these benefits may be
paid for up to 312 weeks from the employee’s death. Survivors who
were wholly dependent in fact must be paid the full benefit rate, and 2025HB-07141-R000784-BA.DOCX
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benefits for those partially dependent in fact must be at least $20 per
week, but no more than the (1) full benefit rate or (2) average weekly
amount that the deceased contributed to their support. (The bill does
not specify the benefit rate for parents.)
WORKING GROUP
The bill establishes a working group to study rehabilitation services
available to injured employees under the state’s Workers’
Compensation Act. Under the bill, the working group must at least
examine:
1. whether the act’s provisions adequately fund rehabilitation
services for all injured employees and
2. ways to encourage injured employees to use these services
(including providing stipends to injured employees who use the
services).
Members
The bill requires the working group to include the following
members, or their designees:
1. the Judiciary Committee chairpersons and ranking members,
2. the Aging and Disability Services commissioner, and
3. the Workers’ Compensation Commission chairperson.
The group also includes the following seven members, jointly
appointed by the Judiciary Committee chairpersons:
1. an attorney with expertise in representing claimants appearing
before the Workers’ Compensation Commission,
2. an attorney with expertise in representing respondents
appearing before the commission,
3. a representative of an association representing attorneys in the
state, 2025HB-07141-R000784-BA.DOCX
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4. a representative of an association representing trial attorneys in
the state,
5. a representative of an association representing workers’
compensation insurers in the state,
6. a representative of an association representing business and
industry in the state, and
7. a representative of a labor organization.
Under the bill, all initial appointments must be made within 30 days
after the bill passes. Any vacancies must be filled by the appointing
authority.
Leadership and Meetings
The bill makes the Judiciary Committee chairpersons, or their
designees, the working group’s chairpersons. Under the bill, they must
schedule and hold the group’s first meeting within 60 days after the bill
passes. The working group must meet at least once per month and at
other times as the chairpersons deem necessary.
The bill requires the Judiciary Committee’s administrative staff to
serve in this capacity for the working group.
Reporting Requirement
Under the bill, the working group must report on its findings and
recommendations to the Judiciary Committee by February 1, 2026. The
working group must end when it submits its report or on February 1,
2026, whichever is later.
BACKGROUND
Permanent, Partial Disability Benefits
By law, PPD benefits are for the permanent, partial reduction in
function or loss of a body part. The worker receives PPD benefits based
on the disability rating (a physician’s determination of the percentage of
the body part that is disabled), the weeks of compensation provided for
that body part specified in the law, and the employee’s basic 2025HB-07141-R000784-BA.DOCX
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compensation rate. By law, the weeks of compensation range from one
(tooth) to 520 (heart, brain, or carotid artery) depending on the body
part.
Related Case
In March 2025, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in Gardner v.
Dept. of Mental Health & Addiction Services that Connecticut law gives an
ALJ discretion to award a workers’ compensation claimant, after they
reach maximum medical improvement, ongoing temporary partial
incapacity benefits (up to the statutory maximum of 520 weeks) rather
than PPD benefits.
Related Bill
HB 6408 (File 302), favorably reported by the Labor and Public
Employees Committee, allows surviving family members of an
employee to receive compensation for a work-related death when the
employee does not have dependents.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Judiciary Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 39 Nay 0 (04/10/2025)