If an employee suffers an injury or disease for which compensation is found by the commissioner to be payable according to the provisions of this chapter, the employer who last employed the claimant prior to the filing of the claim, or the employer's insurer, shall be initially liable for the payment of such compensation. The commissioner shall, within a reasonable period of time after issuing an award, on the basis of the record of the hearing, determine whether prior employers, or their insurers, are liable for a portion of such compensation and the extent of their liability. If prior employers are found to be so liable, the commissioner shall order such employers or their insurers to reimburse the initially liable employer or insurer according to the proportion of their liability. Reimbursement shall be made within ten days of the commissioner's order with interest, from the date of the initial payment, at twelve per cent per annum. If no appeal from the commissioner's order is taken by any employer or insurer within twenty days, the order shall be final and may be enforced in the same manner as a judgment of the Superior Court. For purposes of this section, the Second Injury Fund shall not be deemed an employer or an insurer and shall be exempt from any liability. The amount of any compensation for which the Second Injury Fund would be liable except for the exemption provided under this section shall be reallocated among any other employers, or their insurers, who are liable for such compensation according to a ratio, the numerator of which is the percentage of the total compensation for which an employer, or its insurer, is liable and the denominator of which is the total percentage of liability of all employers, or their insurers, excluding the percentage that would have been attributable to the Second Injury Fund, for such compensation.

(P.A. 81-155, S. 1; P.A. 01-22, S. 2; P.A. 05-199, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 01-22 increased time for taking an appeal from order of commissioner from 10 to 20 days; P.A. 05-199 provided that Second Injury Fund not be deemed an employer or insurer and be exempt from liability under section, and that compensation otherwise attributable to fund be reallocated among any other liable employers or insurers according to ratio, effective July 1, 2006.

Cited. 231 C. 469; 232 C. 758; 241 C. 282. Application is limited to cases of ongoing repetitive trauma or occupational disease. 263 C. 279. Connecticut Insurance Guarantee Association can be held liable for the obligations of an insolvent workers' compensation insurer that would have been the last insurer on a risk and that result does not conflict with Sec. 38a-845. 302 C. 219. Plain and unambiguous language of section permits an award of interest against a prior insurer if apportionment claim has been submitted to a commissioner after conclusion of formal hearings; existence of an agreement did not deprive commissioner of authority to make a determination as to apportionment liability and to award interest. 313 C. 735.

Cited. 33 CA 695; judgment reversed, see 231 C. 469. Once commissioner concluded that claimant had not suffered a new injury but had suffered complications from first injury, commissioner had authority to order former employer-insurer to reimburse present employer-insurer. 121 CA 400.