It is that time of year when many of the changes from the Legislative process go into effect.
On October 1, a number of new and revised laws went into effect which impact Connecticut employers. Those laws are summarized as follows:
Public Act No. 25-12 – this Legislation removes an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) discretion to award temporary partial incapacity benefits after maximum medical improvement is reached. This means ALJ’s are now required to award permanent partial disability benefits once a claimant has reached maximum medical improvement, which will end temporary partial benefits.
Public Act No. 25-174 (Section 211 and 212) – extends the prevailing wage law to “off-site custom fabrication” for public work projects covered by the law. There are other changes to the law as it relates to Small and Minority Owned Business Set-Aside Program, for state contracts.
S.B. No. 1312 – shortens the time period for an employer to contest unemployment benefits that have been improperly charged to it, from 60 to 40 days.
H.B. No. 7046 – Applies to self insured employers the rule that allows the Second Injury Fund to deduct “third party” recoveries from tortfeasors when calculating self insured’s loss, similar as to how insured recoveries are treated.
Public Act No. 25-168 (Budget Implementation Bill) – Buried in this omnibus bill is a provision exempting certain non-profit entities (501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6)) from the prevailing wage laws if working on a project for which they receive financial assistance from Department of Economic and Community Development.