How Does Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Work?

If you get hurt on the job in Connecticut, workers’ compensation pays for your medical care and replaces part of your lost wages regardless of who was at fault. The system is run by the state Workers’ Compensation Commission (WCC) under Chapter 568 of the General Statutes, and for injuries occurring between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026, the maximum weekly benefit for total disability is $1,716.¹ To get anything, though, you have to give timely written notice and prove the injury arose out of your work.

Who Is Covered

Almost every Connecticut employer is required to carry workers’ compensation insurance, and coverage reaches full-time, part-time, and seasonal workers who work under a contract of service.² Immigration status does not disqualify you.

A few categories fall outside the Act: casual employment unrelated to the employer’s business, family members living in the employer’s household (unless their wages appear on the insurance payroll), and domestic workers employed fewer than 26 hours per week.³ Independent contractors are generally not covered, but Connecticut applies a fact-based test, so being called a contractor on paper does not settle the question if you actually function as an employee.

To get benefits, the injury or illness must arise out of and in the course of your employment. Sudden accidents on the job qualify, and so do occupational diseases that develop over time. The employee carries the burden of proving the connection between the work and the injury.⁴

Filing a Claim and the One-Year Deadline

File a written notice of claim on Form 30C within one year of the date of your injury. For an occupational disease, you have three years from the first time you recognize or should have recognized a symptom. If the injury results in death, dependents have one year from the date of death or two years from the accident, whichever is later.⁵

There is a safety valve. Your claim is not barred for lack of a Form 30C if, within the filing period, a hearing was requested, a voluntary agreement was submitted, or the employer provided medical care for the injury.⁵ Filing Form 30C as soon as possible is still the cleanest way to protect yourself.

File Form 30C with the WCC district office that covers your employer’s location, and send a copy to your employer. The employer must then report the injury to their insurer. The employer or insurer then has 28 days to contest the claim. If no contest is filed in that window, the claim is presumed accepted.⁶ Keep copies of every medical record, bill, and written communication; if the case turns into a dispute, that paper trail is what protects you.

Medical Treatment and Mileage

Your employer or their insurer must pay for all reasonable and necessary medical treatment tied to the work injury: physician visits, surgery, hospital care, prescriptions, physical therapy, and diagnostic testing. You get to choose your own treating physician. If the employer provides a list of approved providers, pick from that list; if no list is provided, you can see any licensed physician.

Connecticut also reimburses travel to medical appointments related to a work injury. For trips on or after January 1, 2026, the rate is 72.5 cents per mile, which follows the federal travel mileage rate rather than the lower IRS medical mileage rate.⁷ Keep a log of dates and distances; you will need it when you ask to be paid.

Wage Replacement While You Recover

The Three-Day Waiting Period

Benefits do not start on day one. You must be unable to earn full wages for more than three calendar days before compensation begins. If your disability lasts fewer than seven days, benefits start on day four. If it lasts seven days or more, benefits are paid retroactively from the date of injury. You receive full wages for the day you were hurt, and that day does not count as a day of incapacity.⁸

Temporary Total Disability

If you cannot work at all while recovering, Temporary Total Disability (TTD) pays 75% of your after-tax average weekly wage. The calculation starts with your gross average weekly wage, then subtracts federal income tax, state income tax, and FICA to reach an after-tax figure. Your benefit is 75% of that after-tax number.⁹

For injuries between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026, the TTD maximum is $1,716 per week and the minimum is $343.20 per week, though the minimum cannot exceed 75% of your average weekly wage.¹ If your employer was cited for violating a health or safety regulation and that violation caused your injury, you receive 100% of your average weekly wage instead of 75%.⁹

Temporary Partial Disability

If you can return to work in some capacity but earn less than before, Temporary Partial Disability (TPD) benefits make up part of the difference. For 2025–2026, the TPD maximum is $1,220 per week and there is no minimum.¹ These benefits end when you reach maximum medical improvement or return to work, at which point the claim may shift to a permanent disability rating if you have lasting impairment.

Permanent Disability Benefits

When a work injury leaves you with lasting impairment, Connecticut uses a statutory schedule that assigns a fixed number of weeks of compensation to specific body parts. A few examples:

Dominant arm: 208 weeks
Non-dominant arm: 194 weeks
Dominant hand: 168 weeks
Leg: 155 weeks
Eye: 157 weeks
Back: 374 weeks
Hearing in both ears: 104 weeks

Your Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) benefit is a percentage of the scheduled weeks based on the impairment rating your doctor assigns. A 30% rating on a dominant hand, for instance, produces 30% of 168 weeks, or roughly 50 weeks of benefits. For 2025–2026, the maximum weekly PPD benefit is $1,220 and the minimum is $50.¹

If your injury is so severe that you cannot perform any work, you may qualify for permanent total disability. It pays at the same 75% after-tax rate as TTD and continues for the duration of the disability, with the same $1,716 maximum and $343.20 minimum.¹

If your injury keeps you from returning to your previous job, you may also be entitled to vocational rehabilitation: career counseling, retraining, skills assessments, and job placement. The employer or insurer typically covers the cost, and the WCC can order these services if the employer resists.

Death Benefits for Dependents

If a work-related injury or illness results in death, dependents receive weekly benefits equal to 75% of the worker’s after-tax average weekly wage, subject to the maximum in effect the year of the injury. A surviving spouse receives benefits until death or remarriage. Dependent children receive benefits until age 18, or up to age 22 if they remain unmarried and enrolled full-time in school.¹⁰

The base burial allowance is $12,000 for deaths occurring on or after June 23, 2021, adjusted each January based on the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners in the northeast. If there are no dependents, burial expenses are paid to whoever assumes responsibility for the funeral.¹⁰

Retaliation Is Illegal

Connecticut law prohibits an employer from firing, disciplining, or discriminating against an employee for filing a workers’ compensation claim. It is also illegal to deliberately discourage or mislead a worker about their right to file.¹¹

If the employer retaliates, you have two options. You can file a civil lawsuit in Superior Court seeking reinstatement, back pay, restoration of benefits, and other damages, including punitive damages, and a prevailing employee is awarded attorney’s fees. Or you can file a complaint with the WCC chairperson, who assigns an administrative law judge; the judge can order the same remedies except punitive damages.¹¹

When Someone Other Than Your Employer Caused the Injury

If a third party caused your injury (a defective piece of equipment, a negligent driver, a subcontractor), you can collect workers’ compensation and also sue that third party. One does not cancel out the other.¹²

The catch is subrogation. Your employer or its insurer has a right to be reimbursed out of any third-party recovery for the benefits they already paid, and that claim takes priority over yours after your litigation expenses are deducted. If you brought the case on your own and the employer joins later, the employer’s reimbursement is reduced by one-third, and that reduction goes to you.¹² You must notify your employer of any third-party lawsuit, and the employer has the right to intervene. Anything recovered beyond what is owed to the employer is yours.

Taxes and the SSDI Offset

Workers’ compensation benefits are not taxable income. Federal law excludes amounts received under workers’ compensation acts from gross income, so you will not receive a 1099 or W-2 for your disability payments.¹³ Any wages you earn on light duty or through sick leave while a claim is pending are taxable like normal income.

If you also receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Social Security may reduce your SSDI payment. Combined workers’ compensation and SSDI cannot exceed 80% of your average current earnings before you became disabled; anything above that is deducted from SSDI. The reduction continues until you reach full retirement age or the workers’ compensation payments stop. VA benefits, SSI, and certain state or local government benefits where Social Security taxes were withheld do not trigger the offset.¹⁴

If the Claim Is Contested

Disagreements over treatment, the extent of disability, or benefit calculations are common. The WCC uses a two-step process. First is an informal hearing before a commissioner, where both sides present their positions and try to reach an agreement. Most disputes settle here.⁶

If the informal hearing does not resolve it, either side can request a formal hearing, where witnesses testify under oath, medical evidence enters the record, and the administrative law judge issues a binding written decision. Solid medical documentation and records of lost wages matter most at this stage.

A party who disagrees with the formal decision can appeal to the Compensation Review Board within 20 days. The CRB reviews questions of law and whether the commissioner’s findings were supported by the evidence; it does not retry the facts or hear new testimony. Further appeals go to the Appellate Court.

Do You Need a Lawyer

You are not required to have a lawyer, and many straightforward claims settle without one. If your claim is contested, the extent of your disability is disputed, or you are offered a settlement you are unsure about, an experienced workers’ compensation attorney can be worth the cost. All attorney fees in Connecticut workers’ compensation cases must be approved by an administrative law judge; fees above 20% of the award are scrutinized closely, and requests above 25% are generally not considered.¹⁵ That approval requirement protects injured workers from excessive fees.

1
Workers’ Compensation Commission. Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Commission Weekly Benefit Tables
2
Workers’ Compensation Commission. About Workers’ Compensation Insurance
3
Justia. Connecticut Code Title 31 Chapter 568 Section 31-275
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State of Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Commission. Compensation Review Board Opinion 03571 CRB-07-97-04
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Justia. Connecticut Code Title 31 Chapter 568 Section 31-294c
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Workers’ Compensation Commission. Workers’ Compensation Commission
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Workers’ Compensation Commission. Mileage Reimbursement Rates
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Justia. Connecticut Code Title 31 Chapter 568 Section 31-295
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Justia. Connecticut Code Title 31 Chapter 568 Section 31-307
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Justia. Connecticut Code Title 31 Chapter 568 Section 31-306
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Justia. Connecticut Code Title 31 Chapter 568 Section 31-290a
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Justia. Connecticut Code Title 31 Chapter 568 Section 31-293
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness
14
Social Security Administration. How Workers’ Compensation and Other Disability Payments May Affect Your Benefits
15
Workers’ Compensation Commission. Memorandum No. 2023-09