Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship
Employers would be prohibited from requiring workers to use their parental and family leave after a work-related injury or illness under H.459.
The bill was introduced during the last legislative session in April 2025.
Rep. Teddy Waszazak, D-Washington-3, told the House Committee on General and Housing that he introduced the bill after hearing from workers who said their employers required them to use up other leave time before receiving workers compensation benefits.
“We want our different programs, whether it’s workman’s comp, paid or unpaid leave, (paid time off), to be used for the intention that those programs are designed,” Waszazak said.
On Feb. 5, Sophie Zdatny, a member of the Legislative Counsel, told the committee that workers’ compensation and Vermont’s Parental and Family Leave Act function separately but can overlap when a worker qualifies for both.
“And that’s pretty common. No state prohibits that. And federal law even encourages it,” Zdatny said. But doing so “effectively reduces the amount of protected leave that an employee is entitled to receive,” she added.
During a later committee meeting on Feb. 18, Zdatny said that the newest version of H.459 would apply to employers that have more than 50 employees who work at least 30 hours a week.
Megan Sullivan, vice president of government affairs for the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, raised concerns that banning concurrent leave could negatively impact both employers and workers.
“The chamber doesn’t take a bumper sticker approach to policy,” Sullivan told lawmakers on Feb. 18.
Sullivan said when looking into the bill, it led her down “serious rabbit holes,” including how different statutes, like the Vermont Family and Medical Leave Act, interact with workers compensation in the state.
She said she wanted to find out whether this proposal does what the committee is intending it to do.
Rep. Thomas Charlton, R-Windsor-Windham, was hesitant about the bill’s language, worrying about its impact on smaller businesses.
“Employers are not bottomless buckets of money,” Charlton said in a committee meeting on Feb. 5. “Some of these businesses run at a 5 to 10% margin.”
Curtis Clough, president of the Teamsters Local 597 union, which represents 900 people, told lawmakers on Feb. 25 that the issue is about workers losing leave they need later and not having a choice when employers concurrently assign their benefits.
Clough read a letter from Mike Yalicki, a UPS worker, who said a family leave claim was opened without his consent while he was on workers’ compensation.
When Yalicki later tried to open a family leave claim when his father was diagnosed with cancer, he was told he couldn’t because he had no days left.
Tracey Whalen, a U.S. military veteran and driver at UPS, told the committee he experienced similar issues firsthand. Whalen said he suffered from two separate injuries, but when he requested leave for the second instance, he was denied.
“They took all my FMLA days, which stopped me from going to my mental health appointments,” Whalen said. “I tried to kill myself last year because I wasn’t able to go to my appointments.”
Whalen said he needs leave time available to maintain his health.
“I need my appointments and my days off even for flare-ups,” Whalen said. “I sleep three to four hours a night because of my nightmares, because of the stuff that I’ve had to do.”
Lawmakers are continuing to discuss the bill and have not yet voted.