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State lawmakers consider expanding workers’ comp PTSD benefits

On Behalf of | May 7, 2026 | Workers' Compensation

Increasingly, workers’ compensation authorities throughout the country are recognizing that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common work-related condition in first responders and other frontline workers and are making benefits less challenging to obtain.

Just two years ago, Connecticut expanded workers’ comp coverage of what is referred to under the law as post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI) to include those in certain jobs who witness a death or an injury that eventually is fatal or who have physical contact with them. The law also covers those who see someone suffer a traumatic physical injury “that results in the loss of a vital body part or a vital body function that results in permanent disfigurement of the victim.” 

The law applies to anyone who is a “police officer, firefighter, emergency medical services personnel, Department of Correction employee, telecommunicator or health care provider….” The term “witness” can apply to 911 dispatchers and anyone else who “hears by telephone or radio while directly responding to an emergency call that constitutes a qualifying event….”

How would the law change?

Now, Connecticut state lawmakers are considering a modification to the law that would add more scenarios to the list of qualifying events. Specifically, the bill that’s being considered would add witnessing “a serious physical injury to a person that does not result in (I) the death of such person, or (II) the loss of a vital body part or a vital body function that results in a permanent disfigurement of such person.”

In other words, if they witness the type of injury that could cause death or significant, permanent physical damage, the victim wouldn’t need to have suffered those fates for a first responder or health care provider to receive workers’ comp benefits.

One Bridgeport police officer who testified before lawmakers on behalf of the proposed change said, “This bill fixes a serious flaw in our current PTSD workers’ compensation law.” Frontline workers witness catastrophic injuries that can cause trauma regardless of the outcome of the injury. The fact that they may have survived doesn’t make what they saw any less difficult.

Getting workers’ comp benefits for work-related mental health conditions involving post-traumatic stress can still be more challenging than it is to get compensation for physical injuries that are generally more easily documented and linked to a person’s job. Getting experienced legal guidance can help improve the chances of a favorable outcome.

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36-year-old laborer for landscaping company fractured wrist when fellow employee hit him with truck. Claimant received in excess of $30,000 in workers’ compensation benefits for total disability and medical expenses and settled with automobile insurance company for fellow employee for $95,000.

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