HB 5251 — AN ACT CONCERNING WORKERS' COMPENSATION FOR DISPATCHERS.

House of Representatives General Assembly FileRaised Bill No.

755251 February Session, 2022 HouseLCO Bill No.

52511710 HouseReferred ofto Representatives, March 22, 2022 The Committee on LaborLABOR andAND PublicPUBLIC EmployeesEMPLOYEES reportedIntroduced throughby: REP.

PORTER(LAB) ofAN theACT 94thCONCERNING Dist.,WORKERS' ChairpersonCOMPENSATION ofFOR theDISPATCHERS. Committee on the part of the House, that the bill ought to pass.

AN ACT CONCERNING WORKERS' COMPENSATION FOR DISPATCHERS.

(ii) For an employee of the Department of Correction or a telecommunicator, as defined in section 28-30, (I) when responding to a direct order to appear at his or her work assignment under circumstances in which nonessential employees are excused from working, or (II) following two or more mandatory overtime work shifts on consecutive days, "in the course of his employment" encompasses HB5251LCO /1710 File\\PRDFS1\HCOUSERS\BARRYJN\WS\2022HB-05251-R021 of 2 HB.docx Raised Bill No.

755251 1such HB5251individual's Filedeparture No.from such individual's place of abode directly to duty, such individual's duty, and the return directly to such individual's place of abode after duty;

75 such individual's departure from such individual's place of abode directly to duty, such individual's duty, and the return directly to such individual's place of abode after duty;

July 1, 2022 Section 1 31-275(1)(A) LAB Joint Favorable HB5251APP /Joint FileFavorable No.LCO 1710 {\\PRDFS1\HCOUSERS\BARRYJN\WS\2022HB-05251- 2 of 2 R02-HB.docx }

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75 The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose.

In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge.

Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note State Impact:

Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 23 $ FY 24 $ Various State Agencies GF - Potential See Below See Below Cost Note:

GF=General Fund Municipal Impact:

Municipalities Effect FY 23 $ FY 24 $ Various Municipalities STATE See Below See Below MANDATE 1 - Potential Cost Explanation The bill results in a potential cost to the state or self-insured municipality resulting from an increase in medical and indemnity claims and premium costs to the extent that certain employees apply for Workers' Compensation benefits and meet the other conditions of the bill.

The bill establishes portal-to-portal workers' compensation coverage for any individual employed as a telecommunications operator by a public safety agency, as defined in Section 28-25.

The Out Years The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to inflation.

1State mandate is defined in Sec.

2-32b(2) of the Connecticut General Statutes, "state mandate" means any state initiated constitutional, statutory or executive action that requires a local government to establish, expand or modify its activities in such a way as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues.

HB5251 / File No.

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75 OLR Bill Analysis HB 5251 AN ACT CONCERNING WORKERS' COMPENSATION FOR DISPATCHERS.

SUMMARY This bill extends “portal-to-portal” workers’ compensation coverage to telecommunicators (i.e., 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers) in two situations:

(1) when responding to a direct order to appear at their work assignment when nonessential employees are excused from working or (2)after working two or more mandatory overtime shifts onconsecutive days.

With “portal-to-portal” coverage, an injury that occurs while the employee is travelling directly between his or her home and workplace is deemed to have occurred in the course of the employee’s employment, making him or her eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits for the injury.

Current law provides portal-to- portal coverage to police officers and firefighters and, under the same limited circumstances that the bill applies to dispatchers, Department of Correction employees.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

July 1, 2022 COMMITTEE ACTION Labor and Public Employees Committee Joint Favorable Yea 13 Nay 0 (03/10/2022) HB5251 / File No.

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