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House Bill No. 5506

Public Act No. 22-118 301 of 739

qualifies for benefits under the COVID-19 workers' compensation presumption included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021; (2) "Essential employee" means any person employed in a category recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices as of February 20, 2021, to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in phase 1a, [or] 1b or 1c of the COVID-19 vaccination program; (3) "Administrator" means an employee of the Office of the Comptroller, or a third-party administrator; (4) "Assistance" means moneys payable by the Comptroller from the Connecticut Essential Workers COVID-19 Assistance Fund, established pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, to assist affected persons pursuant to this section; (5) "Uncompensated leave" means the wages or salary lost by (A) an affected person unable to work as a result of contracting COVID-19, or due to symptoms that were later diagnosed as COVID-19, at any time during the public health and civil preparedness emergencies declared by the Governor on March 10, 2020, or any extension of such declarations; [. "Uncompensated leave" does not include any leave from employment for which the affected person received paid leave provided through a paid leave plan provided by an employer or pursuant to any state or federal law;] and (6) "COVID-19" means the respiratory disease designated by the World Health Organization on February 11, 2020, as coronavirus 2019, and any related mutation thereof recognized by the World Health Organization as a communicable respiratory disease. (b) There is established the Connecticut Essential Workers COVID-19 Assistance Program. The program shall offer assistance, within available funds and on a first-come, first-served basis, to affected