Contact the experienced employment law attorneys at Maya Murphy, P.C. today at (203) 221-3100 or JMaya@Mayalaw.com.

This year’s Connecticut General Assembly wrapped up last week, and employees are left with some good news, and some bad news. The good news is that the Governor is expected to sign a bill expanding the requirements for employers to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant employees. The bad news is that several employment law proposals failed to receive enough votes, including those on minimum wage and Paid FMLA. What does this mean for employees?

The pregnancy discrimination bill passed on May 23rd, if signed into law, will significantly enhance protections for pregnant employees. The following discriminatory practices, which are prohibited by existing law, will remain unchanged:

  1. terminating a woman’s employment because of her pregnancy
  2. refusing to grant to that employee a reasonable leave of absence for disability resulting from her pregnancy;
  3. denying that employee, who is disabled as a result of pregnancy, any compensation to which she is entitled as a result of the accumulation of disability or leave benefits accrued pursuant to plans maintained by the employer;
  4. failing or refusing to reinstate the employee to her original job or to an equivalent position with equivalent pay and accumulated seniority, retirement, fringe benefits and other service credits upon her signifying her intent to return unless, in the case of a private employer, the employer’s circumstances have so changed as to make it impossible or unreasonable to do so.

Existing law makes prohibits an employer from:

  1. failing or refusing to make a reasonable effort to transfer a pregnant employee to any suitable temporary position which may be available in any case in which an employee gives written notice of her pregnancy to her employer and the employer or pregnant employee reasonably believes that continued employment in the position held by the pregnant employee may cause injury to the employee or fetus;
  2. failing or refusing to inform  the pregnant employee that a transfer may be appealed; or
  3. failing or refusing to inform employees of the employer, by any reasonable means, that they must give written notice of their pregnancy in order to be eligible for a transfer to a temporary position.

The new bill, if signed, will delete these rules, and instead, make it a discriminatory practice to:

  1. limit, segregate or classify the employee in a way that would deprive her of employment opportunities due to her pregnancy;
  2. discriminate against an employee or person seeking employment on the basis of her pregnancy in the terms or conditions of her employment;
  3. fail or refuse to make a reasonable accommodation for an employee or person seeking employment due to her pregnancy, unless the employer can demonstrate that such accommodation would impose an undue hardship on such employer;
  4. deny employment opportunities to an employee or person seeking employment if such denial is due to the employee’s request for a reasonable accommodation due to her pregnancy;
  5. force an employee or person seeking employment affected by pregnancy to accept a reasonable accommodation if such employee or person seeking employment (i) does not have a known limitation related to her pregnancy, or (ii) does not require a reasonable accommodation to perform the essential duties related to her employment;
  6. require an employee to take a leave of absence if a reasonable accommodation can be provided in lieu of such leave; and
  7. retaliate against an employee in the terms, conditions or privileges of her employment based upon such employee’s request for a reasonable accommodation.

Moreover, the bill creates definitions for “reasonable accommodation” and “undue hardship,” and expands the definition of “pregnancy”. The new legislation defines “reasonable accommodation” as “but shall not be limited to, being permitted to sit while working, more frequent or longer breaks, periodic rest, assistance with manual labor, job restructuring, light duty assignments, modified work schedules, temporary transfers to less strenuous or hazardous work, time off to recover from childbirth or break time and appropriate facilities for expressing breast milk.” Meanwhile, under the bill, “undue hardship” will be defined as an action requiring significant difficulty or expense when considered in light of factors such as:

  1. the nature and cost of the accommodation;
  2. the overall financial resources of the employer;
  3. the overall size of the business of the employer with respect to the number of employees, and the number, type and location of its facilities; and
  4. the effect on expenses and resources.

The bill also creates a broad definition of “pregnancy,” by adding “any related condition, including, but not limited to, lactation.”

Unfortunately for employees, the proposed bills for higher minimum wage and paid FMLA were not as successful as the pregnancy discrimination bill. The paid FMLA proposals applied to all businesses, and would require 120 new state workers to run the program. The Office of Fiscal Analysis reported that these proposals would cost taxpayers about $13.6 million the first year, and another $18 million each subsequent year, which may have contributed to their demise. Meanwhile, the Democratic legislative leaders also acknowledged that there were not enough votes to pass HB 6208, which proposed a new $15 hourly minimum wage by 2022. The current minimum wage in Connecticut is $10.10, which is significantly higher than the federal mandate of $7.25. Other employment-related bills that did not get passed this session include a bill prohibiting employers from running credit checks, a bill requiring employers to give advance notice of work shifts, and a bill changing whistleblower protections.

If you believe that your rights as an employee have been violated, contact the experienced employment law attorneys today at 203-221-3100, or by email at JMaya@mayalaw.com. We have the experience and knowledge you need at this critical juncture. We serve clients in both New York and Connecticut including New Canaan, Bridgeport, White Plains, and Darien.