An Act creating fairness in workers' compensation disfigurement benefits

194th Legislature (2025-2026) Introduced by Sean Garballey and 1 co-sponsor

Raises MA workers’ comp disfigurement benefits: caps payable at 30× the state average wage (per 151A) and removes scar-based limits to broaden eligibility beyond face/neck/hands.

Bill reported favorably by committee and referred to the committee on House Ways and Means

Summary: H.2105 – An Act Creating Fairness in Workers' Compensation Disfigurement Benefits

Status and timeline
- Introduced: February 27, 2025
- Referred to: House Committee on Labor and Workforce Development (Feb 27, 2025)
- Hearing: Scheduled for June 18, 2025 (01:00 PM–04:00 PM, in B-1)
- Reporting date: Extended to Wednesday, December 3, 2025
- Related bill: HD 3724 (replaces)

Bill purpose
- To adjust and expand disfigurement benefits under Massachusetts workers’ compensation law to be fairer and more predictable for injured workers.
- Specifically alters the cap on disfigurement benefits and broadens eligibility criteria by removing a scar-based limitation.

Key provisions (as amended in the bill text)
- Cap on disfigurement benefits
- Subsection (k) of section 36 of chapter 152 (as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition) is amended to replace the existing cap of fifteen thousand dollars with a new cap equal to:
- “the average wage in the commonwealth on the date of the injury multiplied by thirty,”
- and determined “pursuant to subsection (a) of section 29 of chapter 151A.”
- This ties the maximum disfigurement benefit to the state’s average wage and a 30-times multiplier, rather than a fixed $15,000.
- Eligibility for disfigurement payments
- The provision removing a prior limitation: the phrase
- “No amount shall be payable under this section for disfigurement that is purely scar-based, unless such disfigurement is on the face, neck, or hands,”
- is struck from the statute. In effect, disfigurement that is scar-based could be payable even if not limited to the face, neck, or hands.
- In combination, the bill broadens both the amount and the scope of disfigurement claims eligible for compensation.

Who is affected
- Workers who suffer workplace injuries resulting in disfigurement and seek compensation under the workers’ compensation system (Chapter 152, Section 36, Subsection (k)).
- Employers, insurers, and the workers’ compensation fund/administrative bodies that administer benefit payments, since both the cap and eligibility criteria are changed.
- Stakeholders in occupational injury claims may see changes in filing strategies and disputes regarding eligibility and payment levels.

Procedural and timing notes
- The bill was introduced in the 2025-2026 session (One Hundred Ninety-Fourth General Court).
- It has undergone committee process with a scheduled hearing and a reporting deadline extension to December 3, 2025.
- The Senate concurred on prior related action as part of the bill’s initial progression, and HD 3724 is noted as the related/replace measure.

Notes
- The substantive change centers on a new cap formula linked to the Commonwealth’s average wage and the removal of the scar-based limitation, broadening both the monetary cap and the types of disfigurement that may be compensable.