AN ACT CONCERNING PORTAL-TO-PORTAL WORKERS' COMPENSATION COVERAGE FOR PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES.

Senate
SB348 / File No. 352 1

General Assembly File No. 352
February Session, 2026 Senate Bill No. 348

Senate, April 2, 2026

The Committee on Labor and Public Employees reported
through SEN. KUSHNER of the 24th Dist., Chairperson of the
Committee on the part of the Senate, that the bill ought to pass.

AN ACT CONCERNING PORTAL-TO-PORTAL WORKERS'
COMPENSATION COVERAGE FOR PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
EMPLOYEES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. Subdivision (1) of section 31 -275 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 2
1, 2026): 3
(1) "Arising out of and in the course of his employment" means an 4
accidental injury happening to an employee or an occupational disease 5
of an employee originating while the employee has been engaged in the 6
line of the employee's duty in the business or affairs of the employer 7
upon the employer's premises, or while engaged elsewhere upon the 8
employer's business or affairs by the direction, express or implied, of the 9
employer, provided: 10
(A) (i) For a police officer or firefighter, "in the course of his 11
employment" encompasses such individual's departure from such 12
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individual's place of abode to duty, such individual's duty, and the 13
return to such individual's place of abode after duty; 14
(ii) For an employee of the Department of Correction, (I) when 15
responding to a direct order to appear at such employee's assignment 16
under circumstances in which nonessential employees are excused from 17
working, or (II) following two or more mandatory overtime work shifts 18
on consecutive days, "in the course of his employment" encompasses 19
such individual's departure from such individual's place of abode 20
directly to duty, such individual's duty, and the return directly to such 21
individual's place of abode after duty; 22
(iii) For a telecommunicator, as defined in section 28 -30, (I) when a 23
telecommunicator is subject to emergency calls while off duty by the 24
terms of such telecommunicator's employment, (II) when responding to 25
a direct order to appear at such telecommunicator's work assignment 26
under circumstances in which nonessential employees are excused from 27
working, or (III) following two or more mandatory overtime work shifts 28
on consecutive days, "in the course of his employment" encompasses 29
such individual's departure from such individual's place of abode 30
directly to duty, such individual's duty, and the return directly to such 31
individual's place of abode after duty; 32
(iv) For an employee of a public works department, (I) when such 33
employee is subject to emergency calls while off duty by the terms of 34
such employee's employment, (II) when responding to a direct order to 35
appear at such employee's work assignment under circumstances in 36
which nonessential employees are excused from working, or (III) 37
following two or more mandatory overtime work shifts on consecutive 38
days, "in the course of his employment" encompasses such individual's 39
departure from such individual's place of abode directly to duty, such 40
individual's duty, and the return directly to such individual's place of 41
abode after duty. For purposes of this subparagraph, "public works 42
department" means a state or municipal department responsible for the 43
construction, regulation or maintenance of all things in the nature of 44
public works and improvements; 45
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[(iv)] (v) Notwithstanding the provisions of clauses (i) and (ii) of this 46
subparagraph, t he dependents of any deceased employee of the 47
Department of Correction who was injured in the course of his 48
employment, as defined in this subparagraph, on or after July 1, 2000, 49
and who died not later than July 15, 2000, shall be paid compensation 50
on account of the death, in accordance with the provisions of section 31-51
306, retroactively to the date of the employee's death. The cost of the 52
payment shall be paid by the employer or its insurance carrier which 53
shall be reimbursed for such cost from the Second Injury Fund as 54
provided in section 31 -354 upon presentation of any vouchers and 55
information that the Treasurer may require; 56
(B) A personal injury shall not be deemed to arise out of the 57
employment unless causally traceable to the employment other than 58
through weakened resistance or lowered vitality; 59
(C) In the case of an accidental injury, a disability or a death due to 60
the use of alcohol or narcotic drugs shall not be construed to be a 61
compensable injury; 62
(D) For aggravation of a preexisting disease, compensation shall be 63
allowed only for that proportion of the disability or death due to the 64
aggravation of the preexisting disease as may be reasonably attributed 65
to the injury upon which the claim is based; 66
(E) A personal injury shall not be deemed to arise out of the 67
employment if the injury is sustained: (i) At the employee's place of 68
abode, and (ii) while the employee is engaged in a preliminary act or 69
acts in preparation for work unless such act or acts are undertaken at 70
the express direction or request of the employer; 71
(F) For purposes of subparagraph (C) of this subdivision, "narcotic 72
drugs" means all controlled substances, as designated by the 73
Commissioner of Consumer Protection pursuant to subsection (c) of 74
section 21a-243, but does not include drugs prescribed in the course of 75
medical treatment or in a program of research operated under the 76
direction of a physician or pharmacologist. For purposes of 77
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subparagraph (E) of this subdivision, "place of abode" includes the 78
inside of the residential structure, the garage, the common hallways, 79
stairways, driveways, walkways and the yard; 80
(G) The Workers' Compensation Commission shall adopt 81
regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to 82
implement the provisions of this section and shall define the terms "a 83
preliminary act", "acts in preparation for work", "departure from place 84
of abode directly to duty" and "return directly to place of abode after 85
duty" on or before January 1, 2006. 86
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:

Section 1 October 1, 2026 31-275(1)

LAB Joint Favorable

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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 27 $ FY 28 $
Workers' Comp. Claims-Admin.
Serv. Dept.
App Fund -
Potential Cost
See Below See Below
Note: App Fund=All Appropriated Funds
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 27 $ FY 28 $
Various Municipalities STATE
MANDATE1
- Potential
Cost
See Below See Below

Explanation
The bill results in a potential cost to the Department of
Administrative Services – Worker’s Compensation Claims and various
self-insured municipalities beginning in FY 2 7 to the extent qualified
public works personnel apply for workers’ compensation benefits due
to the expanded population eligible for such benefits under the bill.
Any potential increase in the number of workers' compensation
claims resulting from this bill is not anticipated to be great enough to
result in a fiscal impact to the Workers' Compensation Commission.

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

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OLR Bill Analysis
SB 348

AN ACT CONCERNING PORTAL -TO-PORTAL WORKERS'
COMPENSATION COVERAGE FOR PUBLIC WORKS
DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES.

SUMMARY
This bill extends “portal-to-portal” workers’ compensation coverage
to public works department employees in three situations: (1) when they
are subject to emergency calls while off duty by the terms of their
employment, (2) when they are responding to a di rect order to appear
at their work assignment when non -essential employees are excused
from working, or (3) after working two or more mandatory overtime
shifts on consecutive days.
With “portal -to-portal” coverage, an injury that occurs while the
employee is traveling 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. Under the bill, a “public works
department” is a state or municipal department responsible for
building, regulating, or maintaining all things in the nature of public
works and improvements.
Existing law gives 9 -1-1 emergency dispatchers portal -to-portal
coverage under the same conditions the bill applies to public works
department employees. The law also gives portal -to-portal coverage to
(1) Department of Correction employees when they are responding to a
direct order to appear at their work assignment when non -essential
employees are excused from working or after they have worked two or
more mandatory overtime shifts on consecutive days and (2) police
officers and firefighters whenever they are traveling directly between
home and work.
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EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2026
BACKGROUND
Related Bill
sHB 5003, § 8, reported favorably by the Labor and Public Employees
Committee, is identical to this bill.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 9 Nay 4 (03/17/2026)