While most of the headlines this morning surround the Connecticut General Assembly’s override of the Governor’s veto of the SustiNet bill, the legislature also voted to override the veto of the standard wage law passed earlier this year

As a practical matter, this new law will allow several hundred janitors to keep their health insurance even though their employer would not otherwise be required to offer it.   

The so-called "Justice for Janitors" bill "creates a new method of calculating the hourly wages and benefits for those employed by contractors who do building and property maintenance and management work in state buildings. Under the terms of the bill, these private employees will be paid the same prevailing wage rates and receive the same benefits that unionized workers doing the same jobs receive."

For most employers in Connecticut, however, this new law will have little direct impact on their business. Nevertheless, the legislature’s continued foray into mandating salaries and benefits for private employers that are not unionized is a trend worth watching in the upcoming sessions.