Did Connecticut’s 1993 workers’ compensation change end COLAs for earlier injuries?

Plain-English summary

In September 1993, Connecticut’s AG said the date of a worker’s injury controlled whether a cost-of-living adjustment remained available after a workers’ compensation amendment. Injuries before July 1, 1993 kept the earlier COLA entitlement and calculation method; injuries on or after that date did not receive a COLA under the new act. The statute directed that weekly compensation for earlier injuries be computed under the law in effect when the injury occurred. Because a COLA was part of weekly compensation and depended on the maximum compensation rate, the AG applied that same date-of-injury rule to it.

For the October 1, 1993 adjustment, the opinion retained the prior comparison of maximum compensation rates using 150 percent of the average production wage formula. The resulting percentage increase was applied to the claimant’s weekly rate. The AG also cited Connecticut’s long-standing rule that workers’ compensation changes affecting substantive rights generally applied to injuries after their effective date unless the legislature said otherwise. These were historical instructions for the 1993 transition, not a current COLA formula.

Claims administrators at the time

The opinion separated claims by injury date and continued the former calculation for eligible pre-July injuries.

Injured workers and employers at the time

The AG said an existing pre-July injury did not lose its COLA simply because the next annual adjustment fell after the new act’s effective date.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1993. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Did an injury from before July 1993 lose its annual COLA?
A: No. The AG said the earlier law still governed that worker’s weekly compensation and adjustment method.

Q: What about injuries on or after July 1, 1993?
A: The AG said the amended act eliminated COLAs for those injuries.

Q: How was the October 1993 COLA computed for an earlier injury?
A: The AG directed use of the former maximum-rate comparison based on the 150-percent average production wage formula, applying the resulting percentage increase to the weekly benefit.

Background and statutory framework

The 1993 act amended § 31-309, the maximum compensation rate provision, and preserved the injury-date law for earlier claims. The AG linked that command to the COLA statute’s use of the maximum rate.

Citations and references

Statute: § 31-309.

Source

• Landing page: https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Opinions
• Opinion page: https://portal.ct.gov/ag/opinions/1993-formal-opinions/the-honorable-jesse-m-frankl-workerscompensation-commission-1993029-formal-opinion-attorney-general

Original opinion text

The Honorable Jesse M. Frankl, Workers'Compensation Commission, 1993-029 Formal Opinion, Attorney General of Connecticut

Attorney General's Opinion

Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal

September 22, 1993

The Honorable Jesse M. Frankl

Chairman

Workers' Compensation Commission

1890 Dixwell Avenue

Hamden, CT 06514

Dear Chairman Frankl:

This is in response to your letter dated July 23, 1993, wherein you asked our opinion concerning the application of Public Act 93-288 (the Act) to cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for certain injured employees and their dependants. In your letter you indicate that "[a]pparently P.A. 93-228 eliminates COLAs for injuries occurring after July 1, 1993." You then state that "it appears that COLAs prior to July 1, 1993 should continue" for those receiving benefits before July 1, 1993. You specifically request us to advise you, assuming your analysis concerning COLAs is correct, as to what mechanism you should use to determine the COLA for October 1, 1993.

It is our opinion that the Act does eliminate COLAs for those injuries which occur on or after July 1, 1993, while preserving the COLAs for those injuries which occurred prior to that date. For those persons receiving the COLAs, the COLAs should be determined in the same manner they were determined under prior law.

Section 21 of the Act amends § 31-309, the statute which determines the maximum compensation rate for injured employees. Pertinent to your question is the language in §21 which states "the weekly compensation received by an injured employee whose injury occurred before July 1, 1993, shall be computed according to the provisions of law in effect at the time of his injury." Since the method of computing COLAs is based on the maximum compensation rate as determined under § 31-309, and COLAs are part of the weekly compensation, the COLA determination should also be computed according to the law in effect at the time of injury.1 The Connecticut Supreme Court has long held that "new workers' compensation legislation affecting rights and obligations as between the parties and not specifying otherwise, applied only to those persons who received injuries after the legislation became effective, and not to those injured previously." Iacomacci v. Trumbull, 209 Conn. 219, 222, 550 A.2d 640, (1988). This "date of injury" rule was first referred to in 1916 in Schmidt v. O.K. Baking Co., 90 Conn. 217, 220-21, 96 A.963 (1916), and has been consistently adhered to since that date. See Rossi v. Jackson Co., 120 Conn. 456, 460, 181 A.539 (1935); Farmer v. Bieber-Goodman Corporation, 118 Conn. 299, 301, 172 A.95 (1934); Panico v. Sperry Engineering Co., 113 Conn. 707, 709, 156 A.802 (1931); Preveslin v. Derby & Ansonia Developing Co., 112 Conn. 129, 142, 151 A.518 (1930). See also Chieppo v. Robert E. McMichael, Inc., 169 Conn. 646, 649-50, 363 A.2d 1085 (1975), where the Court acknowledged the existence of the rule although finding it inapplicable to the facts at hand in that case.

Consequently, the COLA for October 1, 1993, should be computed in the same manner that COLAs were computed previously, i.e., by comparing the maximum compensation rates under §31-309 using 150% of the average production wage formula (the law in effect for injuries occurring prior to July 1, 1993) and applying whatever percentage increase there is to the claimant's weekly compensation rate.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL

ATTORNEY GENERAL

William J. McCullough

Assistant Attorney General

RB/WJM/at

1 1. See e.g.31-307a (Rev. 1993) which states in pertinent part:

(a) The weekly compensation rate of each employee entitled to receive compensation under section 31-307 as a result of an injury sustained on or after October 1, 1969, which totally disables the employee continuously or intermittently for any period extending to the following October first or thereafter, shall be adjusted annually as provided in this subsection as of the following October first, and each subsequent October first, to provide the injured employee with a cost-of-living adjustment in his weekly compensation rate as determined as of the date of the injury under section 31-309. If the maximum weekly compensation rate as determined under the provisions of section 31-309, to be effective as of any October first following the date of the injury, is greater than the maximum weekly compensation rate prevailing as of the date the injury, the weekly compensation rate which the injured employee was entitled to receive at the date of injury shall be increased by the percentage of the increase in the maximum weekly compensation rate required by the provisions of section 31-309 from the date of the injury to such October first.