Who is, isn’t an ‘Employee’ under Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Law?

Glossary Check

Determining whether someone is covered or not by workers' compensation law sometimes comes down to whether that someone is an "employee" for legal purposes. Thanks to Simply Research, that information is readily available. We highlight Connecticut's definition here.

Employee

“Employee” means any person who:

(i) Has entered into or works under any contract of service or apprenticeship with an employer, whether the contract contemplated the performance of duties within or without the state;

(ii) Is a sole proprietor or business partner;

(iii) Is elected to serve as a member of the General Assembly;

(iv) Is a salaried officer or paid member of any police department or fire department;

(v) Is a volunteer police officer, whether the officer is designated as special or auxiliary, upon vote of the legislative body of the town, city or borough in which the officer serves;

(vi) Is an elected or appointed official or agent of any town, city or borough in the state, upon vote of the proper authority of the town, city or borough, including the elected or appointed official or agent, irrespective of the manner in which he or she is appointed or employed. Nothing shall be construed as affecting any existing rights as to pensions that such persons or their dependents had on July 1, 1927, or as preventing any existing custom of paying the full salary of any such person during disability due to injury arising out of and in the course of his or her employment;

(vii) Is a member of the armed forces of the state while in the performance of military duty, whether paid or unpaid for such military duty; or

(viii) Is elected to serve as a probate judge for a probate district.

Not an Employee

“Employee” shall not be construed to include:

(i) Any person to whom articles or material are given to be treated in any way on premises not under the control or management of the person who gave them out;

(ii) One whose employment is of a casual nature and who is employed otherwise than for the purposes of the employer's trade or business;

(iii) A member of the employer's family dwelling in his house; but, if, in any contract of insurance, the wages or salary of a member of the employer's family dwelling in his house is included in the payroll on which the premium is based, then that person shall, if he sustains an injury arising out of and in the course of his employment, be deemed an employee and compensated in accordance with the provisions of this chapter;

(iv) Any person engaged in any type of service in or about a private dwelling provided he is not regularly employed by the owner or occupier over 26 hours per week;

(v) An employee of a corporation who is a corporate officer and who elects to be excluded from coverage under this chapter by notice in writing to his employer and to the administrative law judge; or

(vi) Any person who is not a resident of Connecticut but is injured in this state during the course of his employment, unless such person (I) works for an employer who has a place of employment or a business facility located in this state at which such person spends at least fifty per cent of his employment time, or (II) works for an employer pursuant to an employment contract to be performed primarily in this state.

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