Connecticut SB 348: AN ACT ESTABLISHING A TASK FORCE REGARDING THE STATE WORKFORCE AND RETIRING EMPLOYEES.

Bill Text

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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 348
February Session, 2026 LCO No. 1373

Referred to Committee on LABOR AND PUBLIC
EMPLOYEES

Introduced by:
(LAB)

AN ACT CONCERNING PORTAL-TO-PORTAL WORKERS'
COMPENSATION COVERAGE FOR PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
EMPLOYEES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. Subdivision (1) of section 31-275 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 2
1, 2026): 3
(1) "Arising out of and in the course of his employment" means an 4
accidental injury happening to an employee or an occupational disease 5
of an employee originating while the employee has been engaged in the 6
line of the employee's duty in the business or affairs of the employer 7
upon the employer's premises, or while engaged elsewhere upon the 8
employer's business or affairs by the direction, express or implied, of the 9
employer, provided: 10
(A) (i) For a police officer or firefighter, "in the course of his 11
employment" encompasses such individual's departure from such 12
individual's place of abode to duty, such individual's duty, and the 13

Raised Bill No. 348

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return to such individual's place of abode after duty; 14
(ii) For an employee of the Department of Correction, (I) when 15
responding to a direct order to appear at such employee's assignment 16
under circumstances in which nonessential employees are excused from 17
working, or (II) following two or more mandatory overtime work shifts 18
on consecutive days, "in the course of his employment" encompasses 19
such individual's departure from such individual's place of abode 20
directly to duty, such individual's duty, and the return directly to such 21
individual's place of abode after duty; 22
(iii) For a telecommunicator, as defined in section 28-30, (I) when a 23
telecommunicator is subject to emergency calls while off duty by the 24
terms of such telecommunicator's employment, (II) when responding to 25
a direct order to appear at such telecommunicator's work assignment 26
under circumstances in which nonessential employees are excused from 27
working, or (III) following two or more mandatory overtime work shifts 28
on consecutive days, "in the course of his employment" encompasses 29
such individual's departure from such individual's place of abode 30
directly to duty, such individual's duty, and the return directly to such 31
individual's place of abode after duty; 32
(iv) For an employee of a public works department, (I) when such 33
employee is subject to emergency calls while off duty by the terms of 34
such employee's employment, (II) when responding to a direct order to 35
appear at such employee's work assignment under circumstances in 36
which nonessential employees are excused from working, or (III) 37
following two or more mandatory overtime work shifts on consecutive 38
days, "in the course of his employment" encompasses such individual's 39
departure from such individual's place of abode directly to duty, such 40
individual's duty, and the return directly to such individual's place of 41
abode after duty. For purposes of this subparagraph, "public works 42
department" means a state or municipal department responsible for the 43
construction, regulation or maintenance of all things in the nature of 44
public works and improvements; 45

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[(iv)] (v) Notwithstanding the provisions of clauses (i) and (ii) of this 46
subparagraph, the dependents of any deceased employee of the 47
Department of Correction who was injured in the course of his 48
employment, as defined in this subparagraph, on or after July 1, 2000, 49
and who died not later than July 15, 2000, shall be paid compensation 50
on account of the death, in accordance with the provisions of section 31-51
306, retroactively to the date of the employee's death. The cost of the 52
payment shall be paid by the employer or its insurance carrier which 53
shall be reimbursed for such cost from the Second Injury Fund as 54
provided in section 31-354 upon presentation of any vouchers and 55
information that the Treasurer may require; 56
(B) A personal injury shall not be deemed to arise out of the 57
employment unless causally traceable to the employment other than 58
through weakened resistance or lowered vitality; 59
(C) In the case of an accidental injury, a disability or a death due to 60
the use of alcohol or narcotic drugs shall not be construed to be a 61
compensable injury; 62
(D) For aggravation of a preexisting disease, compensation shall be 63
allowed only for that proportion of the disability or death due to the 64
aggravation of the preexisting disease as may be reasonably attributed 65
to the injury upon which the claim is based; 66
(E) A personal injury shall not be deemed to arise out of the 67
employment if the injury is sustained: (i) At the employee's place of 68
abode, and (ii) while the emplo