The state lawmaker made paid family and medical leave a top priority in her campaign for State Senate in 2018 and as co-chair of the legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee.

PRESS RELEASE

Governor Ned Lamont today announced that Connecticut workers can now access benefits under the state’s newly launched paid family and medical leave program, which provides wage replacement for those who need to take time away from work to address qualifying health or family concerns.

Overseen by the Connecticut Paid Leave Authority, a quasi-public state agency, the program began granting benefits to eligible applicants on January 1, 2022. The program is entirely employee-funded through a payroll deduction of 0.5%, which began on January 1, 2021. The employee contributions are pooled into the Paid Leave Trust, which pays the paid leave benefit. The authority has partnered with Aflac to manage claims and administer benefits.

The amount of income replacement varies based on a worker’s earnings and is capped at 60 times the state minimum wage, or $780/week.

Qualifying reasons to apply for paid leave benefits include:

To care for one’s own serious health condition (including serving as a bone marrow or organ donor, and pregnancy);

To care for a family member experiencing a serious health condition;

To bond with a new child (biological, adopted, or fostered);

To address issues arising from family violence;

To care for a military family member injured during federal active duty; or

To address issues arising from a parent, spouse, or child’s call to federal active duty.

To file a claim, workers are encouraged to submit applications online, which is the fastest way to apply, by visiting ctpaidleave.org. Those who do not have access to the internet, or who have questions and would like to speak with an Aflac customer care advocate, can call the program’s toll-free hotline at 877-499-8606. Hours of operation for a live representative are 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Governor Lamont said, “I signed this legislation into law two and a half years ago, and since then a tremendous amount of effort and dedication has gone into getting us to this point of making paid leave a reality in Connecticut. The people of Connecticut now have a necessary safety net in place if they are faced with family or health concerns. The program is less than two weeks old, and already making a tremendous difference for the 400 residents and counting who’ve been approved for paid family and medical leave and will be able to take care of themselves or a loved one without worrying about how to make ends meet. Taking care of our workers is not only the right thing to do, but also the necessary thing to do to ensure that our state continues to thrive.”

Click here for more information on the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act website.

Here's video footage I shot of today's distribution efforts as well as my one on one interview with Mayor Dean Esposito.

On Tuesday, Danbury gave homage to the soldiers who fought and gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the country at Pearl Harbor eighty years ago.

Here's video footage of the ceremony posted online by (the amazing) Bob Brought Jr.

Part 1: (link)

Part 2: (link)

Last night, Dean Esposito was srown in as the city's first newly elected mayor in twenty years.

Here's footage of Mayor Esposito's swearing-in ceremony and inaugural address.

Several State Rep and Senate races in Greater Danbury can be determined based on changing district boundries. A change in the boundres of district held by state lawmakers such as State State Julie Kushner (24 dist), State Rep Raghib Allie-Brennan (2nd dist) and Ken Gucker (138th dist) can benefit the incumbents will face a VERY challenging political landscape and most beleive stand a good chance at losing re-election.

I hope you're payign attention...trust me when I say that state lawmakers are paying VERY close attention as their future can be determined on the borderline of their district.

Paz has the details...

The General Assembly’s bipartisan Reapportionment Commission is expected to vote Thursday on new maps for the 151 state House Districts to reflect population shifts counted by the pandemic-delayed 2020 Census.

On Wednesday, the House and Senate members of the commission emerged from their separate negotiating sessions with a deal on the House map but work remaining on the Senate map, according to House leaders.

As was the case 10 years ago, the commission might not set boundaries of the state’s five U.S. House districts by the Nov. 30 deadline, subjecting the congressional map to review by the Connecticut Supreme Court.