Berdon, J.
The sole issue in this workers’ compensation case is whether the plaintiff widow, Sue Ann Cappellino, is entitled to the full balance of permanent partial disability benefits that were awarded to her injured husband pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1975) § 31-3081 after he reached maximum medical [571]*571improvement in 1978. After a portion of these benefits had been paid to the husband, he became totally disabled. Accordingly, the defendant2 Second Injury and Compensation Assurance Fund (defendant) interrupted the payment of § 31-308 permanent partial disability benefits and paid the husband temporary total disability benefits pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1975) [572]*572§ 31-3073 until his death in 1988 from a cause unrelated to his injury. The workers’ compensation commissioner for the fifth district (commissioner) awarded the plaintiff the full balance of the permanent partial disability benefits, and the compensation review division affirmed.
On appeal,4 the Appellate Court affirmed the decision of the compensation review division. Cappellino v. Cheshire, 27 Conn. App. 699, 608 A.2d 1185 (1992). We then granted certification to appeal5 limited to the [573]*573following issue: “Did the Appellate Court properly conclude that the claimant’s widow was entitled to the unpaid balance of the claimant’s permanent partial disability benefits?” Cappellino v. Cheshire, 223 Conn. 914, 614 A.2d 820 (1992). We now affirm.
The undisputed facts are set forth in the Appellate Court opinion, Cappellino v. Cheshire, supra, 27 Conn. App. 699. By way of summary, on January 22, 1976, the plaintiff’s husband injured his lower back while working for the town of Cheshire. On January 12,1978, the commissioner determined that the husband’s injury was compensable and ordered the town to provide him with compensation and pay his medical bills. The commissioner also ordered that liability for the injury be transferred to the defendant effective January 20,1978.6 The husband received § 31-307 temporary total disability benefits from January 22,1976, until March 21,1978.
On March 1, 1978, the husband reached the point of maximum medical improvement with a permanent 30 percent impairment of his back. On July 3, 1978, the commissioner approved a voluntary agreement entitling the husband to 156 weeks of § 31-308 permanent partial disability benefits. The husband received these benefits until October 12, 1978, when he again became totally disabled. The fund interrupted the pay[574]*574ment of permanent partial disability benefits and paid the husband temporary total disability benefits from October 12, 1978, until his death on October 4, 1988. The cause of death was unrelated to his injury.
The plaintiff, a surviving presumptive dependent7 of her husband, claimed entitlement to the balance of the § 31-308 permanent partial disability benefits that were awarded to her husband in 1978. On September 19, 1989, the commissioner ordered payment of the balance of those benefits to the plaintiff. The compensation review division affirmed the award on February 4, 1991. The Appellate Court affirmed the decision of the compensation review division.
In this appeal, the defendant claims that the Appellate Court improperly concluded that the plaintiff was entitled to the unpaid balance of her husband’s permanent partial disability benefits. The defendant argues that: (1) under the Workers’ Compensation Act (act), § 31-308 permanent partial disability awards do not survive the death of the employee and become payable to a surviving dependent; and (2) even if such awards survive the death of the employee and become payable to a dependent, the payment of § 31-307 temporary total disability benefits to an employee who again becomes totally disabled discharges the defendant’s duty to pay the permanent partial disability award. We disagree with the defendant and affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.
[575]*575I
The defendant’s first claim is that under the act, § 31-308 permanent partial disability awards do not survive the death of the employee and become payable to a surviving dependent. The commissioner, the compensation review division and the Appellate Court rejected the defendant’s claim. We reject it as well.
“The purpose of the workmen’s compensation law has always been to provide compensation for an injury arising out of and in the course of the employment regardless of fault, and the statutes are to be broadly construed to effectuate that purpose. . . . The underlying objective is to provide for the workman and those dependent on him.” (Citation omitted.) Klapproth v. Turner, 156 Conn. 276, 279, 240 A.2d 886 (1968). In accord with this objective, this court has long held that the dependents of a deceased employee “have the right to the unmatured part of the award of compensation for a specified sum for a fixed period for loss or impairment of a member . . . .” Bassett v. Stratford Lumber Co., 105 Conn. 297, 303-304, 135 A. 574 (1926); see also Finkelstone v. Bridgeport Brass Co., 144 Conn. 470, 472, 134 A.2d 74 (1957).
The defendant argues that Bassett v. Stratford Lumber Co., supra, misconstrued the workers’ compensation statutes and should be overruled. We disagree. The holding in Bassett was based on two aspects of the statutory scheme that remain in place today: (1) workers’ compensation laws are meant to benefit the dependents of injured employees as well as the employees themselves;8 and (2) permanent partial disability awards may be commuted into lump sums and placed in trust for the benefit of the employee and his [576]*576or her dependents.9 Id., 303-304. This court reasoned that “[i]f, upon commutation, the right of survivorship in the award . . . would pass to dependents, it would be a wholly unreasonable construction of the Act to hold that if commutation were not made, survivorship would not pass to the dependents.” Id., 305. Permanent partial disability awards, therefore, should survive to an employee’s dependents, whether or not they are commuted. Id., 305-306.
The rationale of the Bassett case remains valid. In addition, we note that “the legislature is presumed to be aware of the judicial construction placed upon its enactments.” Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. v. Huntley, 223 Conn. 22, 30, 610 A.2d 1292 (1992). The legislature has amended the workers’ compensation statutes several times since Bassett v. Stratford Lumber Co., supra, but has never taken action to make § 31-308 permanent partial disability awards nonsurvivable. See Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. v. Huntley, supra.
Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI
Berdon, J.
The sole issue in this workers’ compensation case is whether the plaintiff widow, Sue Ann Cappellino, is entitled to the full balance of permanent partial disability benefits that were awarded to her injured husband pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1975) § 31-3081 after he reached maximum medical [571]*571improvement in 1978. After a portion of these benefits had been paid to the husband, he became totally disabled. Accordingly, the defendant2 Second Injury and Compensation Assurance Fund (defendant) interrupted the payment of § 31-308 permanent partial disability benefits and paid the husband temporary total disability benefits pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1975) [572]*572§ 31-3073 until his death in 1988 from a cause unrelated to his injury. The workers’ compensation commissioner for the fifth district (commissioner) awarded the plaintiff the full balance of the permanent partial disability benefits, and the compensation review division affirmed.
On appeal,4 the Appellate Court affirmed the decision of the compensation review division. Cappellino v. Cheshire, 27 Conn. App. 699, 608 A.2d 1185 (1992). We then granted certification to appeal5 limited to the [573]*573following issue: “Did the Appellate Court properly conclude that the claimant’s widow was entitled to the unpaid balance of the claimant’s permanent partial disability benefits?” Cappellino v. Cheshire, 223 Conn. 914, 614 A.2d 820 (1992). We now affirm.
The undisputed facts are set forth in the Appellate Court opinion, Cappellino v. Cheshire, supra, 27 Conn. App. 699. By way of summary, on January 22, 1976, the plaintiff’s husband injured his lower back while working for the town of Cheshire. On January 12,1978, the commissioner determined that the husband’s injury was compensable and ordered the town to provide him with compensation and pay his medical bills. The commissioner also ordered that liability for the injury be transferred to the defendant effective January 20,1978.6 The husband received § 31-307 temporary total disability benefits from January 22,1976, until March 21,1978.
On March 1, 1978, the husband reached the point of maximum medical improvement with a permanent 30 percent impairment of his back. On July 3, 1978, the commissioner approved a voluntary agreement entitling the husband to 156 weeks of § 31-308 permanent partial disability benefits. The husband received these benefits until October 12, 1978, when he again became totally disabled. The fund interrupted the pay[574]*574ment of permanent partial disability benefits and paid the husband temporary total disability benefits from October 12, 1978, until his death on October 4, 1988. The cause of death was unrelated to his injury.
The plaintiff, a surviving presumptive dependent7 of her husband, claimed entitlement to the balance of the § 31-308 permanent partial disability benefits that were awarded to her husband in 1978. On September 19, 1989, the commissioner ordered payment of the balance of those benefits to the plaintiff. The compensation review division affirmed the award on February 4, 1991. The Appellate Court affirmed the decision of the compensation review division.
In this appeal, the defendant claims that the Appellate Court improperly concluded that the plaintiff was entitled to the unpaid balance of her husband’s permanent partial disability benefits. The defendant argues that: (1) under the Workers’ Compensation Act (act), § 31-308 permanent partial disability awards do not survive the death of the employee and become payable to a surviving dependent; and (2) even if such awards survive the death of the employee and become payable to a dependent, the payment of § 31-307 temporary total disability benefits to an employee who again becomes totally disabled discharges the defendant’s duty to pay the permanent partial disability award. We disagree with the defendant and affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.
[575]*575I
The defendant’s first claim is that under the act, § 31-308 permanent partial disability awards do not survive the death of the employee and become payable to a surviving dependent. The commissioner, the compensation review division and the Appellate Court rejected the defendant’s claim. We reject it as well.
“The purpose of the workmen’s compensation law has always been to provide compensation for an injury arising out of and in the course of the employment regardless of fault, and the statutes are to be broadly construed to effectuate that purpose. . . . The underlying objective is to provide for the workman and those dependent on him.” (Citation omitted.) Klapproth v. Turner, 156 Conn. 276, 279, 240 A.2d 886 (1968). In accord with this objective, this court has long held that the dependents of a deceased employee “have the right to the unmatured part of the award of compensation for a specified sum for a fixed period for loss or impairment of a member . . . .” Bassett v. Stratford Lumber Co., 105 Conn. 297, 303-304, 135 A. 574 (1926); see also Finkelstone v. Bridgeport Brass Co., 144 Conn. 470, 472, 134 A.2d 74 (1957).
The defendant argues that Bassett v. Stratford Lumber Co., supra, misconstrued the workers’ compensation statutes and should be overruled. We disagree. The holding in Bassett was based on two aspects of the statutory scheme that remain in place today: (1) workers’ compensation laws are meant to benefit the dependents of injured employees as well as the employees themselves;8 and (2) permanent partial disability awards may be commuted into lump sums and placed in trust for the benefit of the employee and his [576]*576or her dependents.9 Id., 303-304. This court reasoned that “[i]f, upon commutation, the right of survivorship in the award . . . would pass to dependents, it would be a wholly unreasonable construction of the Act to hold that if commutation were not made, survivorship would not pass to the dependents.” Id., 305. Permanent partial disability awards, therefore, should survive to an employee’s dependents, whether or not they are commuted. Id., 305-306.
The rationale of the Bassett case remains valid. In addition, we note that “the legislature is presumed to be aware of the judicial construction placed upon its enactments.” Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. v. Huntley, 223 Conn. 22, 30, 610 A.2d 1292 (1992). The legislature has amended the workers’ compensation statutes several times since Bassett v. Stratford Lumber Co., supra, but has never taken action to make § 31-308 permanent partial disability awards nonsurvivable. See Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. v. Huntley, supra. In fact, the legislature amended § 31-308 in 1989 to designate the class of people to whom such awards may survive.10 Although this amendment does not apply to the award in this case; see Iacomacci v. Trumbull, 209 Conn. 219, 550 A.2d 640 (1988) (upholding the validity of the date of injury rule in workers’ compensation cases); the legislative history of the amendment reveals that it has been the legislature’s understanding that, consistent with Bassett, § 31-308 benefits survive the employee’s death and pass to the dependents. See 32 H.R. Proc., Pt. 17, 1989 Sess., pp. 5876-77.
[577]*577We decline to overrule our long-standing holding that the balance of a permanent partial disability award passes to an employee’s dependents if the employee dies of unrelated causes before the award is paid in full. Accordingly, we affirm the holding of the Appellate Court on this issue.
II
The defendant next claims that even if § 31-308 permanent partial disability awards ordinarily do survive the death of the employee, the payment of § 31-307 temporary total disability benefits to the plaintiff’s husband after he again became totally disabled discharged the defendant’s duty to pay the permanent partial disability award. We disagree.
The defendant concedes that the benefits received by the plaintiff’s husband from October 12,1978, until his death were for temporary total disability, not permanent partial disability. The defendant also concedes that the voluntary agreement awarding permanent partial disability benefits to the plaintiff’s husband was never modified or vacated. The defendant argues, however, that either: (1) the voluntary agreement remained in effect after October 12, 1978, but the defendant’s payment of § 31-307 temporary total disability benefits at a rate exceeding that for § 31-308 permanent partial disability benefits discharged its obligations under the agreement; or (2) the defendant’s payment of § 31-307 temporary total disability benefits starting on October 12, 1978, acted to vacate the voluntary agreement. We find both of these arguments unpersuasive.
Section § 31-308 specifically provides that compensation for permanent partial disability shall be “in addition to the usual compensation for total incapacity.” While we have held that the act prohibits concurrent [578]*578payment of benefits for permanent partial disability and temporary total disability; Paternostro v. Edward Coon Co., 217 Conn. 42, 49, 583 A.2d 1293 (1991); it is clear that these two types of benefits compensate an employee for different types of loss; see Morgan v. East Haven, 208 Conn. 576, 584, 546 A.2d 243 (1988); and that the payment of § 31-307 temporary total disability benefits does not discharge the obligation to pay § 31-308 permanent partial disability benefits at some point in the future. Paternostro v. Edward Coon Co., supra, 46-47. We therefore reject the defendant’s argument that the payment of temporary total disability benefits automatically discharged its obligation under the voluntary agreement to pay permanent partial disability benefits.
We also reject the defendant’s alternative argument that its payment of § 31-307 temporary total disability benefits acted to vacate the voluntary agreement. In essence, the defendant is asking us to hold that the payment of temporary total disability benefits to the plaintiff’s husband vacated the voluntary agreement by operation of law. We note, however, that the legislature has provided a mechanism for modifying voluntary agreements following a change in circumstances. See General Statutes § 31-315. The defendant failed to avail itself of this legislatively created mechanism for modifying the agreement. We refuse to create a judicial mechanism for achieving the same result.
The judgment of the Appellate Court is affirmed.
In this opinion the other justices concurred.