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House advances bill changing wage, unemployment and workers' compensation rules; rulemaking provisions removed for revision
Summary
The Vermont House on a voice vote advanced S.117, a broad bill that removes expedited occupational safety rulemaking language, updates wage-and-hour and unemployment-notification rules, and adds workers' compensation provisions including medical case management and penalties for late payments.
S.117, a wide-ranging bill covering wage-and-hour, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation changes, moved forward in the Vermont House after committee reporters summarized amendments and members voted to propose the committee'recommended changes to the Senate and to order third reading.
The bill's sponsor in the House, Representative Patricia Bosch (member from Clarendon), told members the sections addressing expedited occupational safety rulemaking were removed so the Secretary of State's office and the Department of Labor could continue work on those provisions through the summer. "Concerns were raised about the expedited rule making process, so the first 4 sections of the bill that addressed that have been pulled," Bosch said.
Bosch and committee reporters described the remaining changes and why they matter. The bill codifies an existing wage-and-hour practice by directing the commissioner of labor, when an employer is found to have willfully withheld wages, to require payment of an additional amount up to twice the unpaid wages, with one-half of that additional amount paid to the employee and one-half retained by the commissioner to offset administrative costs. It also clarifies rounding for annual minimum wage adjustments and removes the commissioner's authority to set a subminimum wage for persons with disabilities in the cited statutory provision.
A substantial portion of the bill modifies unemployment-notification and related IT deadlines. Sections 9'16 give employers and claimants the option to receive Department of Labor notices electronically instead of by mail. Section 20 ends the dormancy of the short-term compensation program once the Department of Labor completes a modernized unemployment insurance IT project in 2026. Sections 21 and 21a move statutory deadlines for the IT modernization work from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2026.
Workers' compensation provisions that the committee added include a statutory definition of "medical case management," a requirement that employers pay for translation services when an injured worker is not fluent in English, a claimant-request process for medical case management, and an expanded sliding scale of penalties for late wage-replacement payments (including increasing penalties for repeated late payments). The bill requires employers to report late-payment repayments quarterly to the commissioner and authorizes an administrative penalty of up to $500 for failing to submit that report. The commissioner must track late payments for a year and report to the General Assembly by Jan. 15, 2027.
Representative Burkhart (member from South Burlington), speaking for the committee on ways and means, said the changes are primarily technical and would not materially affect state revenues. Representative Nigro (member from Bennington) said the appropriations committee found no significant appropriation impacts.
After the committee reports, the House voted by voice to "propose to the Senate to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on commerce and economic development" and then ordered third reading. The action to move the bill will send the amended text back to the Senate for concurrence and continues the bill's path toward final passage.
Why it matters: The bill collects several technical corrections and substantive adjustments intended to modernize notice delivery, clarify wage-and-hour enforcement, and add procedural protections and penalties in workers' compensation cases. The IT-related deadlines and the reinstatement of the short-term compensation program tie the bill to the Department of Labor's ongoing technology modernization.
Details: The committee record lists testimony from Department of Labor officials and stakeholders including the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council and representatives of industry and insurance interests. The bill as amended is proposed to take effect July 1, 2025, for most provisions; the reporter noted a proposed new title: "An act relating to wage and hour, unemployment compensation, and workers' compensation."
