The Connecticut General Assembly is in full swing with a wide assortment of labor & employment law bills and concepts being introduced this month — many simply a rehash of bills that were introduced last year and never went anywhere. You can find a full list of the bills before the Labor & Public Employees Committee here.
So what are some of the highlights and otherwise notable proposed bills?
- Proposed S.B. 221 would require Connecticut employers to use t
he new federal E-Verify system (that has been put on hold temporarily) to confirm employment eligibility of newly hired employees. - Proposed S.B. 362 would "require equal pay for equal work" and would create a parallel structure to federal laws on the same subject.
- Proposed S.B. 114 would amend state law to "prevent large corporations from terminating workers with learning disabilities for taking long meal periods and losing track of time." (If you’re looking for more specifics, you’re not going to find it in the bill; this is the verbatim text.)
- Proposed H.B. 5514 would require employers of 50 or more employees to provide up to six paid sick leave days per year.
- Proposed H.B. 5521 would prohibit employers from using credit reports in "making employment decisions, except when (1) the need is substantially job related, (2) required by law…."
As I said last year, much of what gets proposed in the General Assembly stands no likelihood of passage. Sometimes bills are proposed so that a politician make a certain statement or show support for a constituent. So, for example, I suspect that the bill prohibiting "large corporations" from terminating learning disabled employees for taking long meal breaks and losing track of time will die quietly in committee.
But others, particularly the paid sick leave bill, stand a much greater likelihood of at least getting out of committee. The details have yet to flushed out on some of these so stay tuned for further developments.
(H/T Inside the Capitol)