Connecticut employers who miss the February 1st registration with the State Department for Paid Family and Sick Leave could face a fine and additional administrative problems.
Companies must register with the authorities and start with a compulsory wage tax deduction of 0.5%.
Income tax deductions began on January 1, 2021 and the FMLA benefits paid will be available from January 1, 2022.
Andrea Barton Reeves, CEO of the Connecticut Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Authority, says only 40% of state-owned companies – around 40,000 – are registered.
Fines, paperwork
In addition to fines, businesses that fail to register and remit payroll tax face paperwork issues as state labor laws limit the amount employers can withhold to make up for missed withholdings, she said.
“We work every day to tell companies to register and start withholding,” said Barton Reeves.
“But we are fast approaching the date when it gets harder when it isn’t. You really can’t go back to your co-workers and catch up on missed prints. “
“We are fast approaching the date when it gets more difficult.”
Paid FMLA CEO Andrea Barton Reeves
The legislator narrowly passed the controversial vacation mandate in 2019.
Approximately 1.5 million Connecticut private sector employees must pay the 0.5% wage tax, which funds the program’s benefits and bureaucracy.
Most public sector employees are tax exempt.
mandate
The mandate applies to companies with only one employee and provides for paid leave of up to 12 weeks for employees to take care of themselves or an extended family member.
Program benefits are capped at 60 times the state’s hourly minimum wage, which will be $ 13 or $ 780 per week in January 2022.
When the minimum wage hits $ 15 in 2023, the weekly benefit increases to $ 900.
Connecticut offers the richest benefits of any paid vacation program in the country.
Small Business Challenges
The new mandate promises a challenge for small businesses, said Barton Reeves at the CBIA Labor Law 2020 conference last fall.
“This is a whole new world for smaller employers,” she said.
CBIA has been warning lawmakers for years about the unfair burden that paid vacation leave puts on small businesses.
Around 1.5 million private sector employees must pay the 0.5% wage tax, which is used to fund the program’s services and bureaucracy.
Josh Geballe, state commissioner for administrative services and chairman of the paid FMLA agency, didn’t seem surprised by the low attendance rate.
“Everyone expects some mounting pain when we roll it out,” he said.
Companies that have not registered should register and withhold taxes on the agency’s website.
For more information, please contact Diane Mokriski (860.244.1900) | from CBIA @HRHotline.
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