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Senate approves increased death benefits for state employees killed on duty
Summary
The Connecticut Senate approved a resolution updating death benefits for spouses and minor dependents of state employees killed in the line of duty, indexing payouts to more current workers' compensation values and making changes effective Jan. 1, 2024.
The Connecticut Senate on Jan. 28 approved a resolution to increase periodic retirement payments and indexed cash benefits for spouses and minor dependents of state employees killed in the line of duty.
Senator Austin moved adoption of the resolution and said the change was prompted after two state employees — a state trooper and a Department of Transportation worker — were killed on highways in 2024. "The state employee retirement system has historically had low, pre-retirement death benefits," Senator Austin said, arguing the statutory cash payout in Conn. Gen. Stat. §5-144 had not been increased since 1998.
The resolution directs periodic retirement payments for spouses of employees killed in the line of duty, effective Jan. 1, 2024, and provides for payments to minor dependents if there is no spouse "until they turn 21," Senator Austin said. He told colleagues the change also caps combined benefits from SERS and other sources to a percentage of an employee's final average earnings and indexes cash benefits to workers' compensation values that are periodically adjusted.
Senator Summers and Senator Harding both voiced support, noting that the change updates benefits that have not kept pace with inflation and that it is intended to assist families of employees who die while serving the public. Senator Summers said the revision aligns the payment levels to the maximum workers' compensation rate for fatal injuries.
The Senate moved the resolution to the consent calendar and then adopted it by voice vote. The resolution was transmitted to the House for concurrence.
The measure does not itself list an annual dollar total in the Senate debate; Senator Austin described the anticipated ongoing fiscal impact as modest but did say the change would add roughly $86,000 annually to fringe benefit accounts beginning in fiscal year 2025 related to the revised death benefits language.
The change amends how Conn. Gen. Stat. §5-144 is applied to line-of-duty deaths and indexes those benefit payments to updated workers' compensation values.
