Bill Would Increase Compensation for Disfigurement Injuries

Thursday, January 19, 2017 | 0

The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health and labor unions are focusing on workplace safety during this year's legislative session, hoping to reduce the number of workplace fatalities and boost workers’ rights.

MassCOSH said it will push for a bill that failed to pass last year: The measure would expand the scope of workplace disfigurement injuries covered under workers’ compensation to include more body parts, The Berkshire Eagle reported.

SD.251, filed by Sen. Sal DiDomenico, would increase the compensation for those injuries from a maximum $15,000 to 30 times the average weekly wage. The bill would also eliminate the provision that a scar must be exclusively on a worker’s face, neck or hands.

The Senate passed an identical bill in October 2015, but it died in the House Ways and Means Committee in March 2016.