The Insurance Association of Connecticut (IAC) is opposing a bill in the state Senate that would expand workers' compensation coverage to include post-traumatic stress under specific circumstances.
In a statement to the state Senate Labor and Public Employees Committee, IAC President Bob Kehmna said the association has serious issues with the bill's current language and that, if passed, it could undo reforms the legislature put in place in 1993.
The problem, he said, is that the way the proposed statute's wording “would lend itself to expansive interpretation and implementation,” and does not clearly define the meaning of certain terms.
The bill, SB823, comes in response to the shooting massacre in Newtown, Conn., in December when a lone gunman took the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators. It would allow workers' comp coverage for an employee diagnosed by a mental health professional with post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing “death or maiming” caused by “an intentional act of violence.”
State lawmakers have pressed ahead with the bill, which, ironically, would apply to future events and not help those suffering mental trauma from the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
Kehmna argues such words as “witnessing” and “maiming” need clear definition, or they could be subject to interpretation that could prove too broad.
He reminded legislators that Connecticut's 1993 reforms limited stress-related claims to “instances where the mental injury was caused by a physical injury or occupational disease.” In its current form, the bill could have unintended consequences, he added.
Kehmna did not immediately return a request for additional comment.
The IAC is not alone in opposing the bill. Other interested parties, such as the Connecticut Council of Small Towns and the Connecticut Council of Municipalities said they were concerned with increased costs due to expansion of the workers' comp definition..
Some supporters, however, said the bill does not go far enough, and should expand the definition of mental stress or acts causing mental stress—a situation Kehmna said the bill also should avoid.
Though the legislation does not help teachers and first responders suffering mental health illness from witnessing the Sandy Hook murders, lawmakers are not ignoring them.
State House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, has said the legislature plans to pass a bipartisan bill to assist those unable to return to work. The bill would establish a private fund to compensate the first-responders and teachers who are running out of sick-time benefits and exhausted resources for mental health treatment. Sharkey says charitable donations have already come in to help workers and there will be efforts to seek additional monies.
Under the plan, the judicial branch would administer the funds. Legislators are working to obtain an actuarial evaluation to determine how much money the fund will require.
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