With the start of October, employers in Connecticut now have to deal with a whole series of new laws that became effective October 1, 2011. I’ve covered each of them before in various posts here.
But you may have missed them. Now’s the time to update your handbook and policies to address these changes. They are as follows:
- Outside of Paid Sick Leave (which goes into effect January 1, 2012), Public Act 11-55 may just be among the more notable new laws. That law now prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of gender identity.
- Public Act 11-33 requires the state to conduct workplace violence training for public employees. There is not a private employer equivalent but in light of events in the state over the last few years, it certainly is advisable to consider doing so in some instances. Public Act 11-175 makes such training and prevention programs mandatory in the health care setting.
- Public Act 11-223 now prohibits the use of credit reports by employers in some circumstances. Be sure to know whether your workplace is covered.
- Change to the CHRO also became effective a few days ago due to Public Act 11-237. I discussed some of these changes in a recent post.
If you’d like to see a list of all new laws effective October 1st, the legislature has created an interactive list here.