Claims reach record monthly high; approvals and payments continue to rise

The Connecticut Paid Leave Authority's claims administration team reported continued program growth, including a record monthly claims total in October 2025.

John, who presented the claims update, said the three-month claims total was 28,340 with a monthly moving average of 9,447. October recorded 9,953 claims, the highest single-month total to date, and year-over-year claims filed rose roughly 10–11 percent. The presentation showed 12,168 pregnancy cases (with bonding as a segment) and 11,893 pregnancy-with-bonding segments for the 2024–25 period.

Adjudication metrics improved: adding the bonding segment of pregnancy cases increases approved claims counts and raised the approval rate in the reporting period to about 80.7% (the six-month approval rate without that adjustment was reported near 78.77%). Staff reported denials correspondingly fell to about 19.3% when bonding segments are included.

Payments and operational metrics continue to scale. Average weekly payments over the last 26 weeks were roughly $9.39 million, unique employees paid exceeded 182,000, and total program payments to Connecticut workers exceeded $1.4 billion to date. Staff attributed improved call-center efficiency to process changes: average monthly calls were about 30,001 with 89% answered in 30 seconds or less, despite rising claims volumes.

Board members asked clarifying questions about the meaning of "below the minimum" payments and utilization across income buckets. Staff explained the breakdown reflects benefit-calculation buckets tied to Connecticut minimum wage thresholds and part-time or limited‑earnings situations; they agreed to run updated comparisons tying utilization to workforce earnings levels.

The board took no formal action but directed staff to continue monitoring trends and to provide additional analyses linking utilization and actuarial scenarios.