KemLaw

More changes may be on the way for Connecticut employers.

The Labor and Public Employees Committee recently voted legislation out of committee to increase the minimum wage, revise sexual harassment training requirements, expand Connecticut’s family and sick leave laws, and prevent pay discrimination disadvantaging women.

The bill to increase the state’s minimum wage, if passed, would raise the minimum wage from $10.10 to $15 an hour by 2021 while also indexing wages to keep pace with inflation.

Another bill, if passed by both chambers, would create a fund for family leave compensation.  This Act would create a trust fund to be administered by the Labor Department into which workers would pay 0.5 percent of their weekly earnings.  The fund would issue 12 weeks of family leave compensation (or a combination of family and medical leave compensation) to covered employees.

An equal pay bill approved by the Committee, one that supporters claim contributes to the gender pay gap, would forbid employers from asking job applicants about past wages.

A proposed new sick leave bill that passed out of the committee would require all employers with 20 or more workers to provide their hourly employees with at least 40 hours of paid sick leave per year, while employers with 19 or fewer workers would be required to provide 40 hours of unpaid sick leave annually.

Under a proposed bill on sexual harassment, employers with three or more employees would be required to post warnings about the illegal nature of sexual harassment in a prominent workplace location and communicate about the topic directly to employees annually. Additionally, employers with 15 or more employees would be required to train all employees and supervisors with two cumulative hours of awareness and anti-harassment compliance training.

We will continue to track these bills as they move through the legislature and report developments as the session proceeds.

If you are an employer in Connecticut and need guidance on matters of labor and employment law, contact the attorneys at Kainen, Escalera & McHale.  We do one thing and one thing only – we are an employer defense law firm – in fact, we are one of the largest employer defense law firms in the region.  What’s more, each of our attorneys has over 20 years of experience in employment and labor law matters and can provide your business with comprehensive legal counsel ranging from assistance with necessary preventive measures to trial advocacy.  Please contact us if we can help you.

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