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An Act Mandating Employers Provide Paid Sick Leave to Employees (Public Act 11-52)
The State legislature recently approved mandatory paid sick leave legislation to be effective January 1, 2012, which Governor Malloy intends to sign into law ("the Act"). Currently, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have mandatory paid sick time, and Massachusetts, California, and municipal offices in Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver are considering paid sick leave legislation.
The Act impacts service industry employers with 50 or more employees where many employees handle food and work with the public. Employees in 68 occupations will be affected by the legislation (i.e., food service managers, home health aides, janitors, cashiers, cooks, bartenders, crossing guards, dental hygienists, bellhops, computer operators, bus drivers and waitresses). Exclusions to this new law are exempt manufacturers and tax-exempt organizations.
The legislation allows employees to accrue one hour of paid sick time to be paid at the normal hourly wage or the minimum fair wage rate (whichever is greater) for every 40 hours worked up to a maximum of 40 hours per calendar year. Employees may use accrued sick leave once the employee completes 680 hours of employment after January 1, 2012 (i.e., on or about April 30, 2012). Each employee can carry over up to 40 unused accrued hours but cannot use more than 40 hours in any year.
Employees can use paid sick leave to for their own illness or injury, related treatment and preventive medical care, or to take care of a child, parent or spouse. Additionally, paid sick leave can be used for reasons related to family violence or sexual assault such as medical care, victim services, relocation, or civil or criminal proceedings.
It should be noted that the Act is not intended to (1) prevent employers from providing more paid sick leave than is required; (2) diminish any rights provided to an employee under a collective bargaining agreement; or (3) pre-empt or override the terms of a collective bargaining agreement effective prior to January 1, 2012. Also, an employer can require reasonable notice of anticipated, foreseeable need for paid sick leave and may also require reasonable documentation for paid sick leave of three or more consecutive days.
The legislation provides that an employee has a right to file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner regarding an alleged violation of the Act. Moreover, employers found in violation of the retaliation and discrimination provisions will incur a civil penalty of $500, and for a violation of the substantive provisions (or notice provision) a civil penalty of $100. Employers may additionally be ordered to rehire or reinstate the employee, pay back wages and/or reestablish benefits. It mandates that the employer provide notice to its employees regarding employee's sick leave entitlement; employee's right to file a complaint; and employer's ban from retaliatory or discriminatory action based on an employee's request or use of paid sick leave or complaint filed with the Department of Labor alleging violation.
The details of Public Act 11-52 can be found at Connecticut's website http://www.cga.ct.gov. Of course, should you wish to discuss this bill in more detail, please do not hesitate to contact one of the attorneys in the Labor and Employment Department at Suisman Shapiro. |
