Governor, lawmakers call for COVID comp protections

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont on Friday announced an executive order is “forthcoming” for workers who presumably contracted COVID-19 on the job, joining a number of states that now have in place such workers compensation protections for essential workers.

Gov. Lamont on Friday issued a statement saying the state “owes a debt to the health care professionals, grocery store clerks, and other essential workers who stood at their posts during the darkest days of this pandemic.

“We can pay a part of that debt by providing workers who contracted COVID-19 on the job during those days with a timely, straightforward opportunity to claim any benefits they are due through the workers’ compensation system.”

The statement coincided with a hearing Friday with the joint Insurance and Labor committees on the issue of expanding workers compensation coverage to employees who have been hurt on the job by COVID-19 infections. Several workers testified.

Several lawmakers at that hearing called on Gov. Lamont to act.

More insurance and workers compensation news on the coronavirus crisis here.