House Appropriations committee favors S.117 to update unemployment notices, revive short‑time compensation and tweak workers’ compensation rules

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday favorably reported S.117, a 21‑page bill that the Office of Legislative Council described as technical corrections to Vermont labor laws and changes to unemployment and workers’ compensation procedures.

Sophie Sedatny, of the Office of Legislative Council, told the committee “this bill came about because it was, technical corrections requested by the Department of Labor.” She said the bill bundles mostly clarifying edits and procedural changes across unemployment insurance, wage‑payment enforcement and workers’ compensation provisions.

Sedatny summarized key elements: sections 1–4, which would have created an expedited rulemaking process for the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration, were deleted at the Department of Labor’s request; section 5 clarifies the commissioner’s authority to pursue employers who willfully fail to pay wages and specifies that an employee who did not receive wages would be entitled to half of any penalty awarded; section 6 sets…