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Firefighter advocates press for technical fixes to cancer relief law as unions, towns dispute pension calculations
Summary
Firefighter unions asked lawmakers to fix procedural bottlenecks in Connecticut's cancer relief law and to clarify pension calculations for long‑term workers' compensation cases after multiple claim delays and low pension estimates for injured, long‑service members.
The Labor and Public Employees Committee heard extensive testimony on two related subjects: technical corrections to the firefighters' cancer relief statutes (SB 14‑26) and HB 5609, a measure addressing how workers' compensation wage replacement affects municipal pension calculations.
Uniform Professional Firefighters and local unions urged technical changes to the cancer relief fund to remove procedural hurdles that delay benefits. Peter Brown, president of the Uniform Professional Firefighters Association, and Jeff Tomchick, political director for the same union, requested language giving workers' compensation administrative law judges explicit authority to adjudicate disputed cancer fund claims, arguing judges often tell claimants they lack statutory power even when they believe the firefighter should receive benefits. Brown testified: "When we have found...we've gone in front of an administrative law…
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