In this past session, the Connecticut General Assembly passed several new bills which impact employers. These bills became effective on October 1, 2011, except the paid sick leave bill which is effective on January 1, 2012. If you have questions regarding the legal requirements of these new provisions or how they impact your business, please contact one of the employment attorneys at Halloran & Sage:

Public Act 11-12 increased the administrative penalties for violating Connecticut’s Personnel Files Act and provides that employers can be liable even for unintentional violations of Connecticut’s personnel and employment files, laws and regulations. The first violation will result in a $500.00 penalty and subsequent violations can be fined at the rate of $1,000.00 per violation.

Public Act 11-36 now clearly provides that unemployment compensation appeals can be filed by claimants after the 21 day deadline if the claimant can demonstrate a legitimate and bona fide reason for not having filed within the deadline.

Public Act 11-52 requires companies that employee more than 50 people, with some limited exceptions, to provide all “service workers” as defined by federal regulations, at least 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked up to a maximum of 5 paid sick days per year. This bill and the various legal requirements were addressed and outlined in an earlier article on this website. As noted above, this Act will become effective on January 1, 2012.

Public Act 11-55 now prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of gender identity or expression. This means that an employer cannot take adverse job action against an employee who exhibits through appearance or behavior a gender-related identity that is different from that traditionally associated with that person’s physiology or assigned sex at birth.

Public Act 11-223 prohibits employers from requiring that an employee or job applicant consent to a credit check as a condition of employment unless (1) the employer is a financial institution; (2) the employee will be employed in certain specified financial occupations; or (3) a credit check is required by some other provision of state or federal law. The law states that employers can only use credit reports when making hiring decisions when the information contained in the credit report is “substantially related” to the job functions that will be performed by that employee.