New Workplace Laws Take Effect Oct. 1

The following article was provided by Whittlesey. It is posted here with permission. 

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Connecticut employers should prepare for several significant changes to state workplace laws that will take effect beginning Oct. 1, 2026.

The new requirements address pay transparency, pay-code information, employment promissory notes, disability accommodation notices, lactation breaks, and the use of artificial intelligence in employment-related decisions. 

Employers should review their hiring practices, payroll procedures, workplace policies, employee communications, accommodation processes, and use of automated employment technologies to determine what changes may be necessary. 

Pay and Pay-Code Transparency 

Effective Oct. 1, 2026, Connecticut employers must include the wage or wage range and a general description of benefits in advertisements for employment opportunities, including internal and external job postings. 

Employers with 100 or more employees will also be subject to new pay-code transparency requirements.

These employers must create a guide that explains the pay codes used for overtime and the employer’s most commonly used pay differentials, such as shift differentials, on-call pay, and holiday pay. 

If applicable, the guide must include at least 10 pay codes and contact information for the office or individual designated to handle employee disputes regarding hours and pay differentials.

These employers must create a guide that explains the pay codes used for overtime and the employer’s most commonly used pay differentials.

Employers must update the guide when they add a new pay code used for overtime or a pay differential. 

The guide must be made available through the employer’s website in the languages required by the law.

The law does not require an employer to establish a website if it does not already maintain one.

Employers may also satisfy the applicable requirements by providing employees with a written copy of the guide as permitted by the statute. 

Employers using third-party payroll services may comply with the applicable requirements by referring employees to a compliant guide provided by the payroll service. 

Prohibition of Employment Promissory Notes 

Effective Oct. 1, 2026, Connecticut’s prohibition on certain employment promissory notes will apply to employers regardless of size.

Previously, the prohibition applied to employers with at least 26 employees. 

An “employment promissory note” generally includes an instrument or agreement requiring an employee to pay the employer, or the employer’s agent or assignee, a sum of money if the employee leaves employment before a stated period of time has passed.

This includes certain agreements requiring repayment for training previously provided to the employee. 

Requiring an employee to execute an employment promissory note as a condition of employment is against public policy, and the note is void.

Requiring an employee to execute an employment promissory note as a condition of employment is against public policy, and the note is void.

If the note is part of a broader employment agreement, however, its invalidity does not affect the agreement’s remaining provisions. 

Exceptions continue to apply to certain agreements, including those: 

• Requiring an employee to repay sums advanced by the employer
• Requiring an employee to pay for property sold or leased to the employee by the employer
• Requiring educational personnel to comply with terms or conditions of employer-granted sabbatical leave
• Entered into as part of a program agreed to by an employer and its employees’ collective bargaining representative

Connecticut law also excludes certain promissory notes that provide for full or partial repayment of employer-paid fees related to a federal H-1B visa. 

Employers that use training-repayment agreements or other repayment provisions should review those arrangements before Oct. 1. 

New Workplace Accommodation Notice Requirements 

Beginning Oct. 1, 2026, employers must provide written notice concerning an employee’s right to reasonable workplace accommodations for a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

The notice must be provided to: 

• New employees at the commencement of employment; 
• Existing employees within 120 days after Oct. 1, 2026; and 
• An employee who notifies the employer of the employee’s disability, within 10 days after that notification. 

For existing employees, the 120-day deadline falls on Jan. 29, 2027. 

Employers may comply with the notice requirement by displaying a poster created by the Connecticut Labor Commissioner in a conspicuous location accessible to employees at the employer’s place of business.

The Labor Commissioner is also authorized to adopt regulations establishing additional requirements concerning how employers must provide the notice. 

Expanded Lactation Break Requirements 

Effective Oct. 1, 2026, Connecticut employers must provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for the employee’s nursing child or to breastfeed on-site at the workplace. 

Importantly, these reasonable break times must be provided in addition to the employee’s scheduled breaks, expanding Connecticut’s existing lactation protections. 

Employers should review their lactation policies and scheduling practices and continue to consider applicable federal requirements, including the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. 

Discrimination and Automated Employment Decisions 

Connecticut Public Act 26-15 establishes new requirements governing the use of artificial intelligence and automated technologies in employment. 

Effective Oct. 1, 2026, Connecticut’s Fair Employment Practices Act will address discriminatory uses of automated employment-related decision processes.

Certain uses of these processes that result in adverse employment decisions based on an individual’s protected status constitute unlawful discriminatory practices. 

The use of an automated employment-related decision process does not provide a defense against a complaint alleging unlawful discrimination.

The use of an automated employment-related decision process does not provide a defense against a complaint alleging unlawful discrimination.

In evaluating a claim, the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities or a court may consider evidence of anti-bias testing and other proactive measures taken to prevent discriminatory practices, including the quality, recency, scope, and results of those efforts, as well as the employer’s response to the results. 

Employers using AI or automated systems in hiring and other employment decisions should therefore evaluate those systems for potential discriminatory effects. 

Employee and Applicant Notices 

Additional requirements apply to certain automated employment-related decision technologies deployed on or after Oct. 1, 2027. 

When covered technology is used to generate output for the purpose of making, or as a substantial factor in making, an employment-related decision, employers and other covered deployers generally must provide specified notice to affected employees and applicants before the technology is used for that decision. 

The notice generally must disclose that automated technology is being used, its purpose, and the nature of the employment-related decision, information concerning applicable opt-out rights, and contact information for the deployer. 

When technology is used to generate output to make an employment-related decision, employers generally must provide specified notice to affected employees.

If an adverse employment decision results, additional disclosure requirements apply, including a high-level statement of the principal reason or reasons for the decision and specified information concerning how the automated output contributed to it.

Employees and applicants must also have an opportunity to examine and correct certain inaccurate personal data that the technology uses and that they did not provide themselves. 

The law does not require the disclosure of information protected as a trade secret. 

Artificial Intelligence and Collective Bargaining 

Public Act 26-15 also contains provisions effective Oct. 1, 2026, restricting certain uses of artificial intelligence in connection with collective bargaining relationships. 

During the term of a covered collective bargaining agreement, AI technology may not be used in a manner that modifies or impairs the agreement, the designated employee organization’s role as exclusive representative of the bargaining unit, or the relationship between the employer and employee organization concerning the collective bargaining agreement. 

Employers with unionized workforces should review these requirements before implementing AI technologies that could affect bargaining-unit work or rights. 

What Employers Should Do Now 

With several provisions taking effect on Oct. 1, 2026, employers should begin preparing now.

Recommended steps include: 

• Reviewing internal and external job postings for the new wage range and benefits disclosure requirements
• Determining whether the employer is subject to the 100-employee threshold for the pay-code guide and coordinating with payroll providers as appropriate
• Reviewing training-repayment and other employee repayment agreements
• Updating onboarding and disability-accommodation procedures to address the new notice requirements
• Revising lactation policies to ensure reasonable lactation breaks are provided in addition to scheduled breaks
• Identifying AI and automated technologies used in recruiting, hiring, promotion, discipline, termination, and other employment decisions
• Evaluating automated employment processes for potential discriminatory effects and documenting appropriate testing and mitigation efforts
• For employers with unionized workforces, reviewing AI use for potential effects on collective bargaining agreements and bargaining-unit rights

These changes create significant new compliance considerations for Connecticut employers. Organizations should use the period before Oct. 1, 2026, to identify affected policies, systems, agreements, and practices and make appropriate updates. 

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About the author: Kathie McCarthy is the director of human resources and HR advisory services at Whittlesey.