STATUTORY CHANGES TO THE VERMONT WC ACT EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2025

Vermont’s General Assembly made several changes to their workers’ compensation laws, effective July 1, 2025.

Namely:

1) 21 V.S.A § 601(31) is added to include medical case management services to the benefits or services that can be requested through the preauthorization process.

21 V.S.A. § 640b is likewise amended to extend the same procedural process that currently applies to requests for medical treatment and surgical, medical, and nursing services and supplies, including prescription drugs and durable medical equipment, to requests for medical case management services.

2) 21 V.S.A. § 602(d) is added to require that insurance carriers provide translation services at no cost to claimants with limited English proficiency.

3) 21 V.S.A. § 650 is amended to increase penalties for multiple late indemnity payments. Penalties for late payments will remain at the greater of $10.00 or five percent for the first late payment. The penalty will then go up to 10 percent for a second violation, and 15 percent for third and subsequent violations.

The Act also calls for the Department of Labor to conduct a study regarding the frequency of late indemnity payments, due back to the legislature in January of 2027. This will require quarterly reporting by carriers, with the reporting form to be distributed to the carriers in the near future.

These changes, which went into effect on July 1, 2025, can be found in Sections 22 through 25 of Act 40.