Connecticut Legislative Replace: Two New Employment Legal guidelines Impacting Public And Personal Employers – Employment and HR

United States:

Connecticut Legislative Update: Two New Labor Laws Affecting Public and Private Employers

July 14, 2021

Shipman & Goodwin LLP

To print this article, all you need to do is register or log in to Mondaq.com.

Last week, Governor Lamont signed two bills, House Bill 6380 (Public Act 21-30) and House Bill 5158 (Public Act 21-27), which will move in significant (and yet entirely different) avenues starting October 1, 2021.

House bill 6380 adds complexity for employers engaged in hiring and also changes current state laws on equal pay. This new law prohibits employers from not disclosing or denying a job applicant the “salary range” of the position the applicant is applying for. Under that Act, “wage margin” is defined as “the range of wages that an employer will rely on in determining wages for a position and may include a reference to any applicable salary scale, a predetermined range of wages for the position, an actual range of wages for workers currently in comparable positions or the amount estimated by the employer for the position. ”

Accordingly, employers must disclose the salary range before or when they offer the job to the applicant, or when the applicant requests it during the application process, whichever comes first. In particular, this law does not only apply to applicants; Rather, the new law also prohibits employers from not providing their employees with a salary range or from refusing to provide a salary range when they are hired, when changing jobs or at the employee’s first request for a salary range. Applicants and employees can take legal action up to two years after their violations. Employers can be held liable for damages and punitive damages, as well as legal fees.

House Bill 6380 also changes the state’s equal pay laws. Currently, the law stipulates that an employee who alleges wage discrimination must prove that the employer has employed workers of one gender for lower equal Work that requires equal skills, effort and responsibility under similar working conditions. From October 1st, employees must prove that the employer pays employees of one gender a lower wage for comparable Work when it is viewed as a combination of skill, effort and responsibility in similar working conditions.

In an obvious compromise to expand state law, employers can still fend off such a claim by demonstrating that their wage system is differentiated on a bona fide factor other than gender, such as education, training or experience. This new law states that such other bona fide factors can now include credentials, skills and geographic location. These claims must continue to be made to the labor officer, and only if the complaint is not followed up can the employee sue in court.

Employers should use this law as an opportunity to reconsider their wage practices and ensure that job postings comply with this new law.

House bill 5158 adds three new parameters to the existing requirement that an employer provide a mother with a breastfeeding room or other place in the workplace to express her milk. Previously, Conn. Gen. Stat. Section 31-40w only required that such a room or location be private, in the immediate vicinity of the work area and not a toilet cubicle. From October 1st and without undue hardship, such a room or place must also:

1. being free from intruders and shielded from the public while a worker expresses breast milk;
2. include or are located in the vicinity of a refrigerator or a portable cold store provided by the worker, in which the worker can store her breast milk; and
3. Include access to an electrical outlet.

Under this new law, an employer is not required to provide these new parameters if there is undue hardship. Typically, the objection of unjustified hardship is a high hurdle and depends on the difficulty and cost of providing such a parameter in relation to factors such as the size of the employer’s business, its financial resources, and the nature and structure of its activity. In particular, under the new law, the objection of unjustified hardship does not apply to any of the three original parameters. Therefore, all breastfeeding rooms or places provided by the employer are at least private, in the immediate vicinity of the work area and no toilet cubicle.

While it’s too early to say what impact these new laws will actually have, employers need to be ready to implement these changes in their policies and procedures over the next several months.

The content of this article is intended to provide general guidance on the subject. Expert advice should be sought regarding your specific circumstances.

POPULAR ARTICLES ON: United States Employment and Workers

Remote worker: challenges in tax and labor law

Potomac Law Group

With safety restrictions now lifted as the COVID-19 vaccine becomes readily available and the percentage of the US population vaccinated increases, it is time for many employers to …