Senate Approves Presumption Bill, Giving Commission Power to Decide Who's Covered

The Vermont Senate on Monday quickly passed a bill that gives regulators wide latitude on deciding which workers will be presumed eligible for workers' compensation benefits if they contract the COVID-19 respiratory disease. “It's a whole lot better now than it was early on,” said Keith Kasper, an insurance defense attorney in Montpelier, Vermont, and chair of the state Bar's workers' comp section. An earlier version of Senate Bill 342 would have allowed the presumption for almost any worker who falls ill from the coronavirus. But after testimony in a committee he...