As part of the recently enacted state budget bill, Connecticut has approved a new workers’ comp presumption for firefighters with cancer diagnoses that are a result of their hazardous occupation, unless proven otherwise.
This presumption applies to any uniformed member of a paid municipal, state, or volunteer fire department, as well as local fire marshals, deputy fire marshals, fire investigators, fire inspectors, and other classes of inspectors and investigators.
To qualify for the compensation and benefits, a firefighter must have been diagnosed with any condition of cancer affecting the brain or the skeletal, digestive, endocrine, respiratory, lymphatic, reproductive, urinary, or hematological systems.
Furthermore, individuals must have had a physical examination after entering the service that failed to reveal any evidence of or a propensity for the cancer, and they must not have used cigarettes during the 15 years before the diagnosis.
Additionally, firefighters must have been on the job for at least five years and submitted to annual medical health screenings as recommended by their medical provider.
