On the Home Front in Connecticut

State legislators across the country are beginning to formulate proposed bills for consideration by their fellow solons. In CT, rising like a phoenix from the ashes, is another proposal to prohibit offsetting LTD benefits by the amount of dependent Social Security payments. There is a similar proposal to bar LTD offsets for pension benefits received. Similar Social Security offset bills were defeated in the last couple CT legislative sessions, though a fairly rigorous disclosure requirement bill was passed. If approved, these offset proposals would result in rising LTD premium costs and probably lead to more employers dropping their LTD programs or passing along more of the cost to employees.

I also see in my local paper (I’ll admit it, I’m a holdout for the black newsprint with my morning coffee) that CT’s newly elected Governor Malloy supports a paid sick leave bill that was defeated in the CT legislature last session. The proposal would require employers to grant employees up to five paid sick days per year. While the duration of the bill’s benefits are not on the same scale as the state-mandated STD programs in CA, HI, NJ, NY, PR and RI, supporters nonetheless claim it would be the first state-mandated sick leave program in the nation.