Connecticut

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On June 7, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed legislation amending the state’s existing salary history inquiry and pay equity statutes. As we discuss below, this amendment – which goes into effect on October 1, 2021 – places additional obligations on Connecticut employers and modifies the existing standard for pay equity claims in the state.

Newly required wage range disclosures

Under the newly-adopted measures, Connecticut employers will be barred from engaging in the following actions related to the disclosure of wage ranges:

  • Failing or refusing to provide an applicant for employment the wage range for a position for which the applicant is applying, upon the earliest of (A) the applicant’s request, or (B) prior to or at the time the applicant is made an offer of compensation; and,
  • Failing or refusing to provide an employee the wage range for the employee’s position upon (A) the hiring of the employee, (B) a change in the employee’s position with the employer, or (C) the employee’s first request for a wage range.

Continue Reading Connecticut updates its salary history inquiry and pay equity laws

As we have previously reported, several states, including New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, now require employees, customers and/or the public to wear face coverings.  As we have also written about, in other states, like California, local governments are leading the way.  For example, Bay Area counties Sonoma, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, and Contra Costa all require face coverings to some degree.  Since then, additional California municipalities have also joined, including San Bernardino, Riverside, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Carson, Inglewood, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Pasadena.  Links to our prior publications on these location-specific mandates can be found below.

Other states and municipalities continue to follow suit.  As of April 17, employees of essential businesses in Hawaii must wear face coverings.  On April 18, Maryland established a similar requirement for employees, as well as customers over nine years of age. Like California, in states that are not currently requiring face coverings, some local governments have taken the initiative to establish their own requirements.  For example, in Illinois, Cicero, Glenview, Highland Park, Morton Grove, Niles, Skokie and Wilmette have each implemented some type of face covering requirement.  Municipalities in other states that have joined the movement include Laredo, Texas; Miami, Florida; Northampton, Massachusetts; and Chickasaw, Oklahoma.
Continue Reading Employers must face it: Face covering requirements growing across states and municipalities

On Friday, April 10, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont issued an executive order extending the state’s “non-essential” business restrictions until at least May 20.  As we previously detailed, this measure applies to all businesses deemed “non-essential” under a prior executive order (and was initially scheduled to last until April 22).

In addition, last week Governor Lamont issued another executive order, requiring that all workplaces take additional protective measures to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19.  The Commissioner of Economic and Community Development, in consultation with the Commissioner of Public Health, was charged with promulgating legally binding rules enforcing these additional protective measures.  These mandatory rules, entitled Connecticut’s Safe Workplace Rules for Essential Employers, can be found here.  The Safe Workplace Rules require all employees to wear a mask at work and set forth measures designed to eliminate transmission points and control workplace contact.  The rules also detail guidelines specific to essential construction sites.  The Safe Workplace Rules supplement the state’s Essential Safe Store Rules, which set forth protective measures for essential retailers.
Continue Reading Connecticut extends non-essential business restrictions and implements mandatory safe workplace rules

Connecticut has joined New York, New Jersey, and several other states in adopting measures to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. Effective October 1, 2019, Connecticut employers will have a host of new training, notice, and human resources requirements with which to comply — and will now face new, substantial categories of damages for violations. This post will discuss these new changes, as well as the other expanded employee protections afforded under this new legislation.

Mandatory training for employees and supervisors

Under Connecticut’s new law, employers with three or more employees must provide all employees with two hours of sexual harassment prevention training. Existing employees must be trained by October 1, 2020, and employees hired on or after October 1, 2019, must be trained within six months of hire. In addition, all employers regardless of size will be required to provide sexual harassment training to supervisors. Supervisor training must be provided by October 1, 2020, or within six months of an employee assuming a supervisory role. (Previously, supervisor training was required only for employers with more than 50 employees in Connecticut.) While the new law does not require annual training, Connecticut employers must provide supplemental training not less than every 10 years.

That training must include information concerning the federal and state statutory provisions concerning the illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available to victims of harassment. The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) has been tasked with creating training resources employers may use to satisfy this requirement, as well as general resources on sexual harassment.Continue Reading Connecticut enacts expansive sexual harassment prevention measures

Connecticut recently became the first state to mandate that employers provide paid sick leave for service workers (the “Act”), effective January 1, 2012.

The Act may indicate an emerging trend of which employers should be aware. Cities, including San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee, have already passed mandatory paid sick leave legislation in recent years,…