Ways & Means reports S.117 favorably after technical fixes to unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation

The Ways & Means Committee voted to report S.117 favorably, 10-0-1, after hearing from Sophie Sedatny of the Office of Legislative Council that the bill is primarily a package of technical corrections to unemployment insurance law and includes workers’ compensation changes moved in from House Commerce and Economic Development.

Sedatny said the bill began as technical fixes requested by the Department of Labor and was amended in the House to include workers’ compensation provisions. She said the bill removes proposed expedited rulemaking language for Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration rulemaking and makes a series of technical alignments and clarifications requested by agency staff.

Key changes described to the committee include allowing electronic communications in unemployment insurance (instead of mail), aligning the definition of the highest benefit cost rate with federal calculations, rounding the minimum-wage calculation to one decimal place, and removing unused statutory language authorizing subminimum wages for people with disabilities. Sedatny said the short-time compensation program — dormant during COVID because of administrative difficulty — will be reactivated when the Department of Labor’s modernized unemployment IT system goes live; the implementation date in the bill was adjusted to 2026.

On workers’ compensation, the bill adds statutory language for medical case management so a claimant (or the claimant’s attorney) can request case management services rather than leaving the service solely to insurers. Medical case managers, Sedatny said, do not provide medical care or adjudicate claims but help injured employees navigate treatment and administrative options. The bill also requires employers to provide and pay for translation services for injured workers who are not fluent in English.

The bill increases penalties for late payment of average weekly wages on an escalating scale: the second late payment would incur a 10% penalty and a third or subsequent late payment a 15% penalty. The House added a reporting requirement so employers must report quarterly to the Department of Labor when they pay such penalties; the commissioner will compile data and deliver a report to the General Assembly in 2027 covering the interval October 2025–October 2026, with recommendations about continuing reporting and potential penalty adjustments.

Representative Wolcomb moved that the committee find S.117 favorable "as presented to us." The clerk called the roll and the committee recorded 10 votes in favor, zero opposed and one member absent (Representative Kimball). The committee report will move the bill to the next stage.