Connecticut Employment Law Blog : Connecticut Employment Lawyer & Attorney : Daniel Schwartz : Stamford, Hartford New Haven, CT

Continuing the summer series of "basics" of various employment laws (see prior installments here, here and here), this week the topic is offer letters. Specifically, at the time of hiring an employee, does Connecticut require any documentation be provided to employees?

The answer is yes.  Perhaps not in the form of an "offer letter" but it must be something resembling it.  Specifically, Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-71f requires that every employer, at the time of hiring, tell employees:

1. What his or her rate of pay will be;
2. What hours the employee will be expected to work;
3. How often the employee will be paid (weekly, bi-weekly, etc.).

Connecticut law also requires that employers "make available" to employees (in writing or through a posted notice) any policies or practices relating to:

• wages;
• vacation pay;
• sick leave;
• health and welfare benefits;
• and comparable matters.

The employer must provide notice to the employees if it makes any changes to these policies or practices. 

For employers, strongly consider using a standard offer letter for each of your hires.  Also be sure that any such letters confirm that the employee is "at-will", meaning that the employer can fire the employee at any time for any reason (and the employee can leave anytime for any reason too). 

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You know it's summer when the most exciting headline in employment law over the last day seems to be the markup of an arbitration fairness bill by a House Judiciary Subcommittee.  Not terribly exciting.  If you'd like more details on that bill, Workplace Horizons has a nice little summary and does it's typical terrific job on keeping up to date on some federal legislative items.  But it is still a long way off. 

In the meantime, this little lull provides an opportunity to catch up on a series of posts I've done on little known employment laws. For some of the previous installments, check out here and here.  

Today's post addresses offer letters.  For many employers, they are standard practice, but others seem to ignore them.

Connecticut actually requires something resembling an offer letter to each employee. Specifically, Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-71f requires that every employer, at the time of hiring, advise an employee of three things:

1. The rate of remuneration (in other words, the salary or rate of pay);
2. The hours the employee is expected to work;
3. And the schedule for wage payments (weekly or otherwise).

Notably, that statute also requires that employers "make available" to employees (either in writing or through a posted notice in a lunch room or other accessible location) any policies or practices relating to:

• wages;
• vacation pay;
• sick leave;
• health and welfare benefits;
• and comparable matters.

If the employer makes any changes to these policies and practices, the statute requires that the employer provide notice to employees as well.

Thus, offer letters (or something resembling them) are a good business practice, but also the law. Use them as an opportunity to also include language that confirms that the employee is "at-will" meaning that the employer can fire the employee at any time for any reason (and the employee can leave anytime for any reason too). 

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