The Law @ Work

Changes Enacted to Connecticut’s Paid Sick Leave Law

by Susan G. Fentin

ID-100117016On June 6, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (D) signed P.A. 14-128, which amends Connecticut’s paid sick leave statute.  The change affects how an employer can determine whether it employs the requisite number of workers that would require the company to provide paid sick leave.

Connecticut’s Paid Sick Leave statute was originally passed in July 2011.  Under that law, a company that employs 50 or more workers in Connecticut during any quarter of the previous year was required to provide “service workers” with one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked.  This works out to about five days a year for full time workers.

The original legislation turned out to have a few bugs in it, and this new statute fixes some of them.  First, in order to determine whether it meets the 50 employee threshold, a company now simply looks at its payroll on during the first week of October each year.  If the company has 50 or more employees on its payroll during that week, it is a covered employer and must provide the paid sick leave going forward.  The amendments also, logically, impose a penalty on employers who dismiss workers or transfer them to another location so that their headcount falls below 50.  Complaints about this practice can be filed with the Labor Commissioner by workers who are affected by such decisions.

The amendments also allows employers to start the benefit year for paid sick leave on any date of their choosing, instead of using a calendar year as was required in the previous version of the statute.  Finally, the amendments also expand the list of specific, occupational categories to include radiologic technologists.  The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2015.

(Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

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