Essential frontline workers have been working nonstop since the start of the pandemic to keep our state running. But as thousands of them contracted COVID-19 on the job, their employers are unfairly denying them critical wage and health benefits through workers’ compensation.

The current law requires workers to demonstrate that they acquired an illness at work to qualify for benefits. But a bill before the Labor Committee today would help our essential workers by creating a presumption that they got sick on the job. Their employers could still contest their workers’ compensation, but the burden of proof now falls on management.

Email the Labor Committee now and urge them to establish a workers’ compensation presumption for essential workers who contracted COVID-19.

This is critical for all of the workers that have been on the frontline every day – our nurses, grocery store workers, bus drivers, correctional officers, fire fighters, and others.

The process to obtain workers’ compensation can take months or even years. Shifting the burden of proof to the employer is the least we can do to help our essential workers. It also means that the workers who are struggling to breathe and dealing with the long-haul effects of brain fog will be more likely to get the benefits they desperately need.

But in order for this to happen, the Labor Committee needs to hear from you.

Please send a message to the members of the Labor Committee now and urge them to pass HB 6478.

Essential workers kept going to work even as the pandemic raged and killed over 7,700 Connecticut residents. Let’s make sure we take care of them when they get sick.