As the Connecticut Legislature wrapped its 2011 regular session, several new employment and labor related laws were passed and debated.
MANDATORY PAID SICK LEAVE
At about 3:00 a.m. on June 4, 2011, after a marathon eleven hours of debate, the House of Representatives passed a law requiring employers to provide paid sick leave to certain employees. First-term Governor Dannel P. Malloy, who pushed hard for the bill during his campaign, has said that he will sign the bill. With its passage, Connecticut will become the first state in the country to mandate paid sick leave.
The law, which will become effective January 1, 2012, applies to employers with 50 or more employees in the state of Connecticut. For purposes of the law, employees are non-exempt workers paid on an hourly basis.
The law specifically excludes day workers, temporary employees, and certain employees of state colleges and universities.
Under the new law, paid sick leave begins accruing on January 1, 2012 (or the first date of employment for employees hired after January 1, 2012), and accrues at a rate of one hour of paid sick leave per forty hours worked. Employees can accrue a maximum of forty hours of paid sick leave per calendar year. Up to forty hours can be carried over to the next calendar year, but no employee may use more than forty hours of paid sick leave per calendar year. Compensation must be paid at the greater of (1) the employee’s normal hourly wage, or (2) the minimum wage in effect at the time the paid sick leave is used. Notably, an employer may not require an employee to use accrued paid sick leave for time missed from work if the employee offers to work additional hours during the current or following pay period to make up for the missed time.
Employees may use the paid sick leave for their own health condition or preventative care, as well as for that of their children, parents, and spouse. The law incorporates certain notice requirements, including the provision of certain specific information about the paid sick leave entitlement to each employee upon hire.
Employers who fail to comply with the law are subject to a penalty of $600 per violation. Whether the Department of Labor will interpret the “per violation” language restrictively to apply on a per employee basis or more broadly to apply on a per accrued hour basis is yet unknown. If it is the latter, the penalties clearly have the potential to become very large very quickly.
EXPANSION OF PROTECTED CLASSES
The legislature also passed an amendment to Connecticut’s anti-discrimination laws, adding a person’s transgender status to the already expansive list of classes of individuals protected from discrimination in the workplace. This law, which takes effect October 1, 2011, makes it illegal to discriminate against a person based on his or her “gender identity or expression.” Gender identity or expression is defined as a person’s gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s physiology or assigned sex at birth.
PROHIBITION AGAINST CAPTIVE AUDIENCE MEETINGS
On May 11, 2011, the House of Representatives passed H.B. 5460: An Act Concerning Captive Audience Meetings. At first glance, the bill appears to prohibit employers from requiring employees to attend meetings primarily about the employer’s positions on religious or political matters. The true aim of the bill, however, is to prohibit employers from talking about unions when a vote on union representation is approaching. If the Senate passes the bill (as of the date this publication went to press, the Senate had three days left in its regular session and it did not seem likely that it would take up the bill), Governor Malloy has said he would sign it. Were the bill approved, what would follow is an enormous battle by Connecticut businesses (and possibly the National Labor Relations Board) concerning the law’s validity in light of its conflict with the National Labor Relations Act. The National Labor Relations Act allows employers to require employees to attend meetings at which the employer’s views on union representation are discussed. Since the National Labor Relations Act is a federal law, it would preempt any state law on the same topic. If the captive audience meetings bill doesn’t become law this term, expect to see a modified version of the bill make its way back to the floor in the future.