Bill Would Require Connecticut to Pay Workers’ Comp for PCAs

A bill in the Connecticut legislature would hold the state responsible for paying for the workers’ compensation of personal care attendants (PCAs) employed through the state’s Medicaid waiver program.

Currently, Connecticut law mandates that consumers foot the bill for the workers’ comp of PCAs who work 26 or more hours a week, at an often prohibitively expensive cost.

Deborah Chernoff, public policy director for SEIU Healthcare 1199NE, told the Hartford Courant that workers’ compensation can set consumers back nearly $900 a year.

The bill, HB 6878, would designate PCAs as state employees for the purposes of workers’ compensation. Connecticut would therefore be responsible for paying the workers’ comp benefit for PCAs.

“The cost for the provision of such benefits shall be a separate appropriation of the General Assembly and shall not reduce services or affect consumers served by such personal care attendants,” the bill says.

Connecticut PCAs voted to join SEIU last year and have seen their wages increase to more than $12 an hour. They also received paid time off for the first time.

— by Matthew Ozga