Connecticut's New 100 Percent Workers' Compensation Assault Benefit Covers Health Care and School Employees, Not Every Worker

Connecticut's New 100 Percent Workers' Compensation Assault Benefit Covers Health Care and School Employees, Not Every Worker

Connecticut Public Act 26-12, approved May 11, 2026, took effect in relevant part on October 1, 2026. Its Section 1 adds a 100 percent wage replacement benefit for covered health care and education personnel injured by an on-the-job assault, health care volunteers and board members included. Connecticut's general total incapacity rate stays at 75 percent.

Information last verified on October 8, 2026. This is a developing story; we update it as the record changes.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Connecticut only. Within Connecticut it covers Sections 1 and 75 of Public Act 26-12 and the chapter 568 provisions Section 1 touches, with brief notes on three other sections of the same act. It does not cover assault leave or workers' compensation rates in any other state, and it does not work through the act's remaining sections.

What Happened

Public Act No. 26-12, Substitute House Bill No. 5003, is an omnibus statute titled "An Act Concerning Workforce Development and Working Conditions in the State." It runs 124 pages and 75 sections. The Governor's Action block on the final page reads "Approved May 11, 2026."

Section 1 repeals and replaces Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-307, the total incapacity provision of Connecticut's Workers' Compensation Act, and is marked "(Effective October 1, 2026)." The replacement keeps the existing subsections (a) through (d) and adds two new subsections, (e) and (f). The current consolidated version of 31-307 published by the General Assembly contains only subsections (a) through (d), which is how the new lettering can be identified.

New subsection (e) opens "Notwithstanding the provisions of section 31-308 and subsection (a) of this section." It then sets the rate:

the injured health care provider or other employee shall be paid a weekly compensation equal to one hundred per cent of the injured health care provider's or other employee's average weekly earnings as of the date of the injury, calculated pursuant to section 31-310, provided the provisions of section 31-309 shall not apply to such weekly compensation.

Public Act 26-12, Section 1, codified at Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-307(e)

Two mechanical features of that sentence matter. Because the subsection overrides section 31-308 as well as subsection (a), it reaches partial incapacity and not only total incapacity. And because section 31-309 "shall not apply," the award escapes the maximum weekly compensation rate, which 31-309 ties to the average weekly earnings of all workers in the state as determined by the Labor Commissioner each August for the following October.

What else subsection (e) pays

Beyond the weekly rate, subsection (e) adds payment for expenses "reasonably incurred" for medical or other services made necessary by the assault, and for wages lost to an absence for a court appearance connected to the assault. An employee absent because of an assault injury or such a court appearance "shall continue to receive" full salary while absent, except that a workers' compensation award may be deducted from those salary payments. The statute also provides that the time of the absence "shall not be charged against" the employee's sick leave, vacation time or personal leave days.

Who the 100 Percent Rate Covers

Health care: subsection (e)

Subsection (e) defines a "health care provider" as an individual directly or indirectly employed by, or volunteering for, a health care facility or institution who either is involved in direct patient care, or has direct contact with a patient or a patient's family while collecting or processing information for patient forms and records, or while escorting or directing the patient or family on the employer's premises.

"Health care facility or institution" is then defined by list: a hospital, nursing home, rest home, home health care agency, home health aide agency, emergency medical services organization, assisted living services agency, outpatient clinic, outpatient surgical facility, community health center, urgent care facility, a medical office owned or operated exclusively by persons licensed under Conn. Gen. Stat. 20-13 (the license to practice medicine and surgery), a dental office, and an infirmary operated by an education institution for its enrolled students and its faculty and employees.

The exclusion is express:

"Health care facility or institution" does not include any facility or institution operated by the state, except The University of Connecticut Health Center.

The injury must also arise while the provider or employee was acting in the discharge of their duties, within the scope of their employment, or under the direction of their employer.

Education: subsection (f)

Subsection (f) carries the same 100 percent rate and the same disapplication of section 31-309 for a physical or negligent assault on a member of a board of education, the State Board of Education, the Board of Regents of Higher Education or the Board of Trustees for The University of Connecticut, and on any teacher or other employee of those boards. For that subsection, "teacher" and "other employee" are defined to include a student completing a student teaching experience under the direction of a teacher employed by a local or regional board of education, the State Board of Education or the Board of Governors of Higher Education, and any member of the faculty or staff or any student employed by The University of Connecticut Health Center or health services. Subsection (f) repeats the expense, court-appearance, full-salary and leave-protection provisions found in subsection (e).

The Standing Law: Total Incapacity Under Chapter 568

Nothing in Section 1 moves the general rate. Subsection (a) still provides that an employee totally incapacitated by a compensable injury is "paid a weekly compensation equal to seventy-five per cent of the injured employee's average weekly earnings as of the date of the injury," calculated under section 31-310 after reduction for federal or state taxes and FICA, and "shall not be more than the maximum weekly benefit rate set forth in section 31-309." The subsection (a) minimum is unchanged: no employee entitled to compensation under the section may receive less than 20 percent of the maximum weekly compensation rate under section 31-309, provided that minimum does not exceed 75 percent of the employee's average weekly wage. It is a floor measured against the statutory maximum, not against the worker's own wage. So are the listed injuries deemed to cause total incapacity in subsection (c) and the prior-loss limitation in subsection (d). That 75 percent figure is the one set out in our Connecticut workers' compensation guide, and it is still correct for the ordinary case.

Subsection (b) is also untouched. It already paid 100 percent of average weekly earnings where the injury or illness was caused by the employer's violation of a state or federal health or safety regulation that had been cited and not abated within the time fixed by the citation. Readers comparing how states set wage replacement percentages can see the range in our state-by-state workers' compensation coverage.

Connecticut comp claims continue to turn on procedure as much as on rate, a point sharpened by a recent Connecticut appellate ruling on the notice deadline for occupational disease claims under Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-294c(a).

Section 75 and Three Other Sections, Briefly

Section 75 repeals Conn. Gen. Stat. 10-236a, the indemnification statute for educational personnel assaulted in the line of duty, effective the same October 1, 2026. That changes how Section 1 should be read on the education side. Repealed 10-236a(b) already required a teacher or employee absent from an assault injury or a related court appearance to continue receiving full salary, already allowed the workers' compensation award to be deducted from those salary payments, and already barred charging the absence against sick leave, vacation time or personal leave days. Repealed 10-236a(c) already carried the same student-teaching and University of Connecticut Health Center definitions subsection (f) now carries. So for education personnel subsection (f) substitutes for a benefit that already existed outside workers' compensation; what is genuinely new for them is the 100 percent rate, the disapplication of section 31-309, and the move into chapter 568. The swap also narrows coverage in two respects. Repealed 10-236a(a) reached any teacher employed by a state agency and any employee of the managing board of a public school as defined in Conn. Gen. Stat. 10-183b, and new subsection (f) does not list either. And 10-236a(a) saved those people harmless from assault-related "financial loss and expense" generally, where subsection (f) pays an enumerated list. None of this affects the health care side, where subsection (e) is new law.

Section 7 amends the definition of "arising out of and in the course of his employment" in Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-275(1), effective October 1, 2026. Compared against the current consolidated statute, the amendment inserts a clause extending portal-to-portal coverage to public works department employees in three situations: on call off duty, ordered in when nonessential employees are excused, or coming off two or more consecutive mandatory overtime shifts. The existing clause on dependents of certain deceased Department of Correction employees is redesignated.

Section 2 rewrites the pay-transparency statute, Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-40z, also effective October 1, 2026. It requires a general description of benefits alongside the wage range, extends disclosure to internal and public job advertisements, adds an express anti-retaliation subdivision, and removes punitive damages from the remedies in subsection (d). The two-year limitation period is restated rather than lengthened. Readers tracking Connecticut employment rules more broadly may want the background on at-will employment in Connecticut.

Section 3, effective from passage, establishes a working group to study the feasibility of a system under which health care providers whose electronic health records systems can connect to the State-wide Health Information Exchange under Conn. Gen. Stat. 17b-59e would report incidents of patient violence to that exchange, and under which such a provider would be alerted when it accepts a new patient, or has a scheduled visit with an existing patient, who has a documented history of such an incident. The section establishes the study, not the reporting duty. The working group's report is due to the General Assembly's public health committee not later than January 1, 2027.

Analysis: Why This Matters

The following is analysis from the Recording Law Editorial Team.

The figure that travels is "100 percent," and read without the subsection letters it sounds like Connecticut raised its wage replacement rate. It did not. Section 1 leaves subsection (a) word for word intact and bolts on two carve-outs keyed to both a setting and a cause. Two employees can be hurt in the same hospital corridor on the same shift, and the one whose injury came from an assault is paid at 100 percent while the one who fell is paid at 75 percent of post-tax earnings and subject to the section 31-309 cap.

The disapplication of section 31-309 is the sleeper provision. Connecticut's maximum weekly rate is pegged to the statewide average weekly wage, so a worker earning well above that average normally has the 75 percent calculation truncated by the cap. Lifting the cap for assault injuries means the benefit tracks the individual's actual earnings. For higher-paid clinicians that can be a larger practical change than the move from 75 to 100 percent.

The full-salary continuation plus the leave protection point the same direction, though only for health care workers is that part new. An employee who stays whole on salary, with the comp award offset against it, and whose absence does not consume accrued sick or vacation time, faces a very different set of incentives than one choosing between partial benefits and burning leave. The practical effect is that the absence does not itself cost the employee accrued leave. Education personnel already had that package under Conn. Gen. Stat. 10-236a, which Section 75 of this act repeals, so for them the change is the rate and the lifted cap rather than the salary and the leave.

Two scope lines will decide most disputes. The first is the state-operated exclusion: a nurse at a private hospital is inside subsection (e), a comparable employee at a state-run facility other than the UConn Health Center is not, and whether a given institution is "operated by the state" is a question the text does not elaborate. The second is the phrase "physical or negligent assault," which the act uses without defining. The provision took effect on October 1, 2026, so how that phrase will be applied is not addressed in the enacted text.

This is general legal information, not legal advice. It covers Connecticut and reflects sources verified on October 8, 2026. Laws change and this story is developing; consult a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction about your specific situation.

Related articles

• Our Connecticut workers' compensation guide
• State-by-state workers' compensation coverage
• Connecticut appellate ruling on the occupational disease notice deadline
• At-will employment in Connecticut

Last updated: 2026-10-08. This is a developing story; details verified as of 2026-10-08.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Connecticut's 100 percent workers' compensation rate apply to all injured workers?

No. Public Act 26-12 left the general rule in Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-307(a) unchanged at 75 percent of average weekly earnings after federal and state tax and FICA deductions, capped by section 31-309. The 100 percent rate in new subsections (e) and (f) applies only to incapacity resulting from a physical or negligent assault on covered health care and education personnel, and subsection (b)'s separate 100 percent rate still applies to injuries from a cited, unabated health or safety violation.

Who counts as a health care provider under the new Connecticut assault benefit?

New subsection (e) defines a health care provider as someone directly or indirectly employed by, or volunteering for, a health care facility or institution who is involved in direct patient care, or who has direct contact with a patient or the patient's family while collecting or processing information for patient forms and records or while escorting or directing them on the employer's premises. Volunteers are included by the text.

Which facilities are covered, and which are left out?

The statute lists hospitals, nursing homes, rest homes, home health care and home health aide agencies, emergency medical services organizations, assisted living services agencies, outpatient clinics, outpatient surgical facilities, community health centers, urgent care facilities, medical offices owned or operated exclusively by persons licensed under Conn. Gen. Stat. 20-13, dental offices, and infirmaries operated by education institutions. It expressly excludes facilities and institutions operated by the state, naming The University of Connecticut Health Center as the only exception.

Does the maximum weekly compensation rate still cap the assault benefit?

No. Subsections (e) and (f) each provide that the provisions of Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-309 shall not apply to that weekly compensation. Section 31-309 is the provision tying the maximum weekly rate to the average weekly earnings of all workers in the state, which the Labor Commissioner determines each August to take effect the following October 1.

Does the new benefit reach assaults that happened before October 1, 2026?

The act marks Section 1 effective October 1, 2026, and the text of subsections (e) and (f) contains no retroactivity language and no date-of-injury applicability clause. How the new subsections apply, if at all, to injuries predating that date is not addressed in the enacted text.