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

The General Assembly's Labor & Public Employee Hearing on various labor bills went forward as scheduled on Tuesday.  Among the topics --  the workplace bullying bill that I first reported on on Monday.

Senate Bill 60 would create a private cause of action for workplace bullying. However, even if the bill passes the labor committee, it would still need to pass muster with the judiciary committee, according to state Senator Edith Prague.

The Hartford Courant had a report in Wednesday's editions:

The bill, which has the support of committee chair state Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, is actually a revised version of a similar bill that failed to reach a full vote of the assembly last year because of concerns about how it might affect businesses. In particular, opponents worried that the bill, which would allow workplace bullying victims to sue their tormentors, could expose employers to potential damages even if they had consistently tried to create a safe environment for workers.

The new legislation aims to protect employers who have acted in good faith by making them exempt from liability if they can show they took steps to prevent bullying behavior on the part of individual employees or supervisors.

Last week, The Word on Employment Law discussed the possibility that these types of bills were being introduced across the United States.  Earlier this month, Ohio Employer's Law Blog touched the subject as well.  But for a more in-depth look at the subject, the ABA Journal did a nice piece earlier this month. The article quotes from a Tennessee case that perhaps touches on the problem with workplace bullying laws and perhaps over-legislating the workplace. 

The fact that a supervisor is mean, hard to get along with, overbearing, belligerent or otherwise hostile and abusive, does not violate civil rights statutes...

It'll be interesting to see what happens with this bill in the upcoming months. And for the record, i don't think hiring bodyguards for the workplace, as the movie poster suggests, is a good idea.  Stay tuned.

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As I posted yesterday, the Connecticut General Assembly is back in session. The Labor & Public Employees Committee is busy holding hearings this week on various bills now pending before the General Assembly.

One batch of bills is up for consideration this afternoon. A second batch is up for a hearing this Thursday at 2:30 p.m.  The February 28th Hearing agenda can be found here.  The hearing is at 2:30 in Room 2D of the Legislative Office Building.  The main topics of the February 28th hearing  purport to be public employees and unemployment compensation.

Among the notable bills being considered:

• Senate Bill 217 (Employers with 25+ employees would be required to provide up to 52 hours of paid sick leave to employees);
• Senate Bill 38 (which would provide paid vacation time, sick leave and personal leave for Connecticut State's attorneys);
• Senate Bill 56 (which would create a task force to address misclassification of workers such as the distinctions between exempt/non-exempt or employee/independent contractor).

For employers, Senate Bill 217 is the one to watch.  Proposals for paid sick leave have been making the rounds in various states with only modest success thus far.  It'll be interesting to see how far this bill actually gets this year.

We'll look at some of these bills more in-depth over the upcoming weeks and months as debate on the bills begins.  But given the General Assembly is in a short session, it's still an open question as to what will actually get passed this year.

I should also note that other committees also consider bills that look at the employer/employee relationship. For example, the Judiciary Committee has a bill (Senate Bill 328) that would increase jury duty pay and require employers to be more involved in the system.  As significant developments arise, I will try to keep tabs on them throughout the legislative session.

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With the Connecticut General Assembly back in session this month for its short session, the Labor & Public Employees Committee has scheduled two hearings this week -- February 26th at 2 p.m. and February 28th at 2:30 p.m. -- to consider a variety of bills now being proposed.  The agendas for each can be found here and here. 

The February 26th Hearing overall, will be hearing bills related to minimum wage, the Department of Labor, unemployment compensation and prevailing wages.  Among the more notable of the bills being discussed is Senate Bill 216 which would fix a law that expired last fall that allows 15-year-olds to work in grocery stores as baggers, cashiers and shelf stockers. As I reported last fall, lawmakers simply forgot to renew it.  The bill would also grant immunity to employers who kept those 15-year-olds employed from last fall until present because of the legislative slipup.

Other notable bills being considered:

• House Bill 5105 (which would increase minimum wage to $8.00 per hour effective January 1, 2009);
• Senate Bill 60 (which would create a new private cause of action for bullying in the workplace);
• House Bill  5113 (which would regulate "professional service organizations" , or situations where there is a "coemployment relationship in which all or a majority of the employees providing services to a client or to a division or work unit of a client are covered employee");
• House Bill 5114 (which would allow employers to pay its employees via a debit card, instead of a check).

The sleeper bill of these, in my view, is House Bill 5114.  This would be a huge benefit to the thousands of workers who do not have their own checking account.  Many of these people pay large check cashing fees.  The debit card might allow these employees to use the card directly like a VISA or Mastercard.  Employers are allowed to use these for items such as Health Savings Accounts, so why not paychecks (so long as it remains the choice of the employee)?

I should also note that Senate Bill 216 should be a no-brainer as well.  Having sunset provisions, like the one in the prior statute (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 31-23) are of no use, if no one at the General Assembly keeps track of them. 

The February 26th Hearing begins at 2 p.m. in Room 2D of the Legislative Office Building and is open to the public.

I'll summarize the February 28th Hearing in an upcoming post. 

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For human resources professionals and labor and employment attorneys, explaining what you do to adults is difficult enough. But how do you explain work issues to your kids? 

Or for the non-lawyers out there, how do you explain things like the television writer's strike that allow more reality shows like American Gladiators to hit the air?  (At least we still have Lost to count on for the next few weeks...)

And perhaps most importantly, how do you explain, "dispute resolution" in terms that they can understand (besides simply explaining that they "work it out" who gets to play with a doll first)

Well, there's one book that we've had on our bookshelves for years that fits the bill for the younger set (ages 3-8).  It's called "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type" by Doreen Cronin.  Cronin (not surprisingly, an attorney) creates a story of various barnyard residents who join together to try to improve their working conditions. 

How does it start? Well, first the cows discover an old typewriter and begin to air their grievances.  Eventually, they declare that "the barn is very cold at night. We'd like some electric blankets."  When the farmer denies their request, the cows go on strike.  Eventually, a neutral mediator -- a duck -- gets both sides to find common ground and the farm returns to "normal".  It's a light and warm-hearted tale. 

Yes, I'm sure that out there somewhere, some anti-union group will take this book too seriously and a threat to society in general.

But really, I've found the book to have 1) a good story; 2) good pictures; 3) a good message (working out differences peacefully).  Sometimes, a book is just a book.  For those looking for something new for a gift or to read to kids, it's a decent story to have.  

UPDATE: Ohio Employer's Law Blog has this post with a few other lessons to draw from the story as well. 

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