Committee weighs S.173 to speed vocational rehabilitation for injured workers

The House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development took up S.173 on March 18, a Senate-originated bill that would eliminate an initial screening step in the workerscompensation vocational rehabilitation process and create a working group to recommend improvements to how Vermont identifies and serves injured workers.

Senator David Weekes, the Senate reporter on the bill, told the committee that about 16,000 Vermonters are injured at work each year and roughly 250 — about 1.5 percent — remain out of work for 90 days or more, the statutory trigger for screening. He described the bills first section as removing an administrative initial screening and referring claimants who request services directly to certified vocational rehabilitation counselors; the second section would convene a working group to study broader reform questions and report back to the Legislature.

"Each year roughly 16,000 Vermonters are injured at work. Of that, roughly 250 workers each year, which is about 1 and a half percent, are out of work for 90 days or more," Weekes said, framing the bill as an effort to reduce delays that can prevent timely access to rehabilitation services.

Why it matters: proponents said the state-conducted initial screening often delays or…