Vocational Rehabilitation

In some instances, a worker may sustain an injury that will prevent them from being able to return to their previous line of work. For example, a construction worker who has sustained a back injury may no longer be able to physically tolerate heavy work. This can be a scary scenario, especially if the worker has spent their entire career in one industry.

While Workers’ Compensation does offer some benefits to compensate an injured worker for loss of ability to earn as much as they had been earning prior to an injury under Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-308a, these benefits are woefully inadequate.

Perhaps the best resource available to workers in this situation is Connecticut’s vocational rehabilitation program. Through this program, you can meet with a vocational expert to discuss your work experience and physical limitations. Together with the expert, the worker can then learn of other jobs for which they may be qualified. This program will pay for additional training and schooling to help an injured worker.

In order to qualify, you need to have an accepted Workers’ Compensation claim and be assigned a permanent partial disability (PPD) rating.

Over the years, I have had many clients use this program to transition to new lines of work with great success.

This program is run by the State of Connecticut and does not have any involvement with insurance companies.

Contact information for the Vocational Rehabilitation program can be found at Rehabilitation Services.