Vermont Workers’ Comp Changes, Including for Children and Firefighters, Now in Effect

Vermont’s workers’ compensation benefits for temporary total disability and for dependent children, as well as the work search requirement for injured workers returning to the job market, changed starting July 1, 2023, the result of new legislation.

These workers’ compensation changes were part of a bill mainly addressing childcare and early education that Governor Philip B. Scott vetoed because it imposed a new payroll tax for the childcare services. The Legislature, however, overrode the veto.

Also in effect July 1, 2023 was a separate law signed by Scott in May that sets rules for firefighters with cancer to qualify for workers’ compensation.

According to the state’s Department of Labor, these additional statutory changes should be applied to the work week commencing on Sunday, July 2, 2023:

The method for calculating temporary partial disability benefits (TPD) has been changed. Lawmakers hope the change will incentivize low wage earners to return to work rather than remain on disability. TPD is has been calculated as two-thirds of the difference between the injured employee’s average weekly wage (AWW) before the injury and the amount the employee earns during each week of disability. The new method requires a carrier to calculate the claimant’s entitlement to temporary total disability (TTD), factoring in annually adjusted minimum and maximum benefits to get the compensation rate (CR), and then subtract the wages actually earned to get a TPD benefit. This applies unless the claimant would receive a greater TPD benefit using the old TPD calculation. In either case, the new TPD dependent benefit is added on at the end.

Effective July 1, 2023, the weekly benefit for each dependent child under 21 years of age increases from $10.00 to $20.00. In addition, the dependent benefit applies to temporary partial disability benefits as well as temporary total disability benefits. The labor department said that Because the expansion of the dependent benefit to TPD benefits confers a substantive new statutory benefit, only TPD claims with a date of injury of July 1, 2023 or later will be eligible for dependent benefits.

The preauthorization process for medical treatment has been expanded. To include surgical, medical, and nursing services and supplies, including prescription drugs and durable medical equipment. If a carrier receives a preauthorization request for any of the above, it will have 14 days to authorize or deny, as is now the case for medical treatment.

This new law also gives carriers guidance on allowable work search requirements. A claimant who is released to return to work, with or without limitations, but who cannot return to their former job, may be required to conduct no more than three work searches a week. A carrier may not require a work search if the claimant is already working in another job, or if they have been referred for or are scheduled for a surgical procedure.

Firefighters’ Cancer

This law on firefighters with cancer establishes that a firefighter who dies or has a disability from cancer shall be presumed to have had the cancer as a result of exposure to conditions in the line of duty, unless it is shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the cancer was caused by non-service-connected risk factors or non-service-connected exposure. A firefighter who is diagnosed with cancer within 10 years of the last active date of employment as a firefighter shall be eligible for benefits. The date of injury shall be the date of the last injurious exposure as a firefighter.

The firefighter must be under 65 years of age and never have used tobacco products at any time within 10 years of the date of diagnosis. The disabling cancers are limited to leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma, and cancers originating in the bladder, brain, breast, colon, gastrointestinal tract, kidney, liver, lung, pancreas, reproductive system, skin, or thyroid.

The law also calls for a study of the costs to the state for regular cancer screenings for all firefighters and a study of the costs if firefighters over age 65 and who used tobacco were to be granted the presumption that their cancer resulted from work exposure.

Topics Workers' Compensation Vermont