Harmful labor bills die at end of session

(June 7, 2007) Many of the session’s worst anti-jobs measures that would have seriously harmed Connecticut’s business climate died in the last hours of the 2007 session.

Among these were: SB-847, concerning workers' compensation discretionary benefits; SB-601, paid sick leave; and HB-7326, the so-called “captive audience” bill. Another measure, HB-6989, concerning noncompete agreements, passed both chambers this week but was narrowed in scope.

CBIA is grateful for its many members who called and e-mailed thousands of messages to state legislators urging them to reject these misguided proposals, and for the lawmakers who correctly understood the harm these proposals would have caused.

SB-601 Paid Sick Leave -- Required employers to provide paid sick leave to all hourly and non-exempt employees in increments of one hour for every 40 hours worked.

SB-847 Discretionary Benefits -- Allowed state workers' compensation commissioners to award discretionary benefits up to maximum scheduled benefit amount. Preliminary estimates by NCCI predicted that this legislation would have resulted in up to a 55% increase in workers' comp insurance costs for businesses across the state.*

HB-7326 Freedom in the Workplace (Captive Audience) -- This bill prohibited employers in certain cases from speaking with their employees about myriad issues that might affect the workplace, the community at large and the state economy.

HB 6989 Noncompete Agreements -- Passed both the House and Senate this week, but it was amended to seriously limit its application. The bill now prohibits the use of noncompete agreements only for certain specific job classifications when the employee seeks the same or similar position at the same location in which the employer is based. We anticipate that few businesses will be affected by the new, amended bill.

It is unfortunate that the legislature spent so much time considering bills that only would have set the state’s economy back – just the fact that the bills made it so far in the legislative process sends a decidedly wrong message to the state’s business community.

CBIA urges lawmakers to abandon efforts to further burden and penalize Connecticut’s employers, and instead pursue proposals that will help increase job creation and economic investment in the state.

For more information, contact CBIA’s Kia Floyd at 860-244-1931 or floydk@cbia.com.

* Editor's note: Last week's edition of this report incorrectly said that NCCI indicated premiums would initially rise an average of at least 25%, and then go even higher, because of the bill. NCCI did not, in fact, indicate that.

CBIA Action Center

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