A high-stakes court decision in Connecticut recently triggered a fast legislative response that underscores how one ruling can shift the balance in workers’ compensation systems.
In March 2025, the Connecticut Supreme Court disrupted longstanding workers’ compensation practices by allowing administrative law judges (ALJs) to extend temporary partial disability benefits beyond maximum medical improvement rather than converting claims to permanent partial disability. The decision raised alarms among employers, including public sector entities, who warned that the ruling could dramatically increase workers’ compensation costs. In response, the Connecticut legislature acted swiftly to amend the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act, limiting ALJs’ discretion and reinstating the prior framework.
From the article:
The Connecticut legislature has nullified the state Supreme Court’s interpretation of temporary partial disability provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act. The decision broke with longstanding practice, upended decades of decisions to the contrary and caused widespread concern among employers that the decision would cause crippling increases in workers’ compensation costs.
The new law requires permanent partial disability benefits to be awarded once a claimant reaches maximum medical improvement and caps certain benefits at 60 weeks, contingent on participation in vocational rehabilitation. It also makes several updates to the benefit schedule and extends survivor benefits to include a decedent’s parents. These changes, effective July 1, 2025, and retroactive to claims filed since 1993, were included in an appropriations bill to ensure immediate impact.