In two weeks, employers in Connecticut will have to deal with something new and I worry that many employers aren’t prepared for what is coming. It’s really a triple-whammy at the same time.
Item 1:
First, effective January 1, 2022, Connecticut’s Family and Medical Leave Act law gets expanded to almost all private employers. That
If 2020 was a year full of twists and hairpin turns, 2021 is proving to be a worthy successor — at least when it comes to paid leave.
There are a lot of news articles out there but I thought a quick recap of where we are (and where we are expecting to go) would
Over the last week, while many of us were trying to catch up on our stay-cations, Congress passed and the President signed The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Applications Act.
It’s a 5,593-page appropriations bill so I’m going to guess that you haven’t read it.
Spoiler Alert: Neither have I.
But thankfully, my colleagues Jarad
When no one is working, no one needs to get paid leave.
But as the workforce starts returning, smaller businesses — particularly those will less than 50 employees — are starting to feel the impact of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).
That law created two new paid leave provisions — the EPSLA and
To paraphrase a popular quote: There are years when nothing happens and there are days (and weeks) when years happen.
The nonstop barrage of news, orders, and other materials continues making updating a blog on the subject feel hopelessly out of date the moment you click “Publish”.
So rather than any lofty posts this
I’ve previously touched on a number of bills that were passed in the short legislative session that ended earlier this month but I thought I would recap the session briefly in one post.
Of course, the CBIA already did most of the work so I won’t repeat the good work and recommend the post to
With Congress in gridlock, we haven’t seen any federal laws impacting employment law for several years. Instead, we’ve now started to see a lot more action at the state legislative level where proposals to modify everything from family leave to the minimum wage are being passed in, it seems, increasing numbers.
Therefore, what happens in other states is becoming much more important. For instance, we saw that Connecticut was considering an immigration-related employment bill that was modeled on laws in other states.
Because of this, and because many employers now have businesses in multiple states, I’ve asked my friend, Courtney Ward-Reichard, a shareholder at Nilan Johnson Lewis in Minneapolis, to share her insights about a pretty broad employment law bill that was just signed into law earlier this week in Minnesota. While Connecticut already has adopted some of these items, others may be on the horizon, such as lowering the employee threshhold for family leave to 20 or more employees. After all, if one state has passed it, propoants can argue that Connecticut’s passage won’t put us as a competitive disadvantage when compared with similar states.
In any event, my thanks to Courtney for her insights here.
On May 11, 2014, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton signed landmark legislation – a group of bills that became known as the Women’s Economic Security Act (“WESA”). WESA will most directly affect employers with operations and employees in Minnesota. But employers in Connecticut and elsewhere should take note: this legislation – or its components – may well serve as a model in other states.
Here are the most significant changes:
• Creates new protected class for familial status: WESA expands the Minnesota Human Rights Act (“MHRA”) by adding familial status as a new protected class. Employers will likely face new state charges and lawsuits alleging discrimination on the basis of this status, and victorious plaintiffs may seek not only damages, but also their attorneys’ fees. This expansion makes Minnesota unusual, as federal law and most states’ laws do not include familial status as a protected class. This change became effective the day after Governor Dayton signed the bill.
• Expands pregnancy and parenting leave: Covered employers (with over 20 employees) must provide up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave to eligible employees for: 1) the birth or adoption of a child; or 2) prenatal care, or incapacity due to pregnancy, childbirth, or related health conditions (for female employees). Employees may take the first type of leave within twelve months of the birth/after the child leaves the hospital. These changes will be effective July 1, 2014, and will affect numerous employers who are not covered by the federal FMLA. Employers will be allowed to require employees to use their sick leave during parental leave, and the leave will also run concurrently with any FMLA leave.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Women’s Economic Security Act May Serve As Model for Other States
In the hours before the General Assembly’s 2014 session closed, there were a number of bills being watched by employers. I’ll have an additional recap of the session in the days ahead, but one bill that passed on Wednesday night made a number of small, but important, changes to the state’s Paid Sick Leave
It’s finally here: Paid Sick Leave.
Connecticut officially became the first state in the nation to mandate this on Sunday. Depending on your perspective, it’s either a historic achievement or another sign that Connecticut is anti-business.
I’ve talked about this extensively over the last six months so I’m not going to repeat the summaries here.
We continue with our series of posts (see prior posts here, here, here, and here) on the new Paid Sick Leave Guidance issued by the Connecticut Department of Labor earlier this month. Today’s post focuses on the “carryover” rules.
Another issue that the Paid Sick Leave addresses is the “carryover” rules —