Workers’ Compensation In Warehouse Shootings Could Break Records [The Hartford Courant, Conn.]

Aug. 13--It's too soon to quantify the total workers' compensation payout for the workplace shooting at Hartford Distributors Inc., though it could become the largest sum paid in Connecticut for an incident of its kind.

Family members of eight people killed and two injured last week at the Manchester beer distributorship are eligible to receive claims from the company's workers' compensation insurer, The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. of Worcester, Mass.

The most comparable slaying in Connecticut was in 1998 at the former Connecticut Lottery headquarters in Newington. An employee armed with a knife and a gun killed four workers and then himself in that incident.

The Hartford Distributors incident "has the potential to be larger, simply because more people are involved," said John Mastropietro, chairman of the state Workers Compensation Commission.

Mastropietro has corresponded with The Hanover Insurance Group, which identified a point of contact for families and workers filing claims. Mastropietro on Wednesday sent a letter explaining how to file a workers' compensation claim to union representative John Hollis, a Teamsters legislative liaison.

Families of deceased and injured workers have one year from the Aug. 3 shooting to file workers' compensation claims. The state Workers' Compensation Commission gets involved only if a claim is disputed or contested.

How much the insurer pays is based on a weekly average of wages, bonuses, shift differentials and other earnings in the 52 weeks before the shooting. The compensation rate is 75 percent of the average weekly wage after deductions for Social Security and income tax, which will differ for each employee.

An injured employee who continues working is not entitled to full workers' compensation benefits, Mastropietro said. When an employee is killed, state statute requires workers' compensation to be paid to the spouse until the spouse dies or remarries, and to the deceased worker's children until they turn 18. Children could be eligible for additional benefits after turning 18 if they enroll in college.

Hanover spokeswoman, Amy Banek, would not estimate the total value of the claims.

"We don't comment on any claims numbers until earnings are reported, but we do have reinsurance protection to protect us against larger exposures," Banek said.

Also not available Thursday was the total of workers' compensation claims paid in the lottery killings. The amount wasn't immediately available from either the Workers' Compensation Commission or the state Department of Administrative Services, which handles workers' compensation for state workers.

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