Critical Paid Sick Leave Reforms Stuck In House

05.31.2013
Issues & Policies

After its unanimous passage in the state Senate, a bill containing much needed—and commonsense—reforms for Connecticut employers in the administration of the paid sick leave law is currently stranded in the state House.   

In 2011, Connecticut became the first and only state in the nation to adopt a paid sick leave mandate.  Given the law’s complexity, the state’s Labor Department (DOL) embarked on a year-long tour of informational sessions to help employers understand and comply with the law. 

From those sessions, both the department and the business community found a variety of issues and uncertainties with the law that needed to be addressed. DOL in fact specifically flagged those issues in its presentations to businesses statewide.    

To resolve those problems for Connecticut employers, the Commerce Committee drafted SB 1007, which provides flexibility to employers in the type of 365-day period used to account for employee accumulation of paid sick leave (think calendar year, fiscal year, etc), and clarifies that manufacturers and employers who have never had more than 49 employees at any given moment were exempt from the law – just as originally intended. 

Later in the legislative process, two additional components to address additional ambiguities in the law were added by the Labor Committee: addressing industry specific issues with intermittent paid sick leave usage, as well as issues with sick leave accumulation for employees with irregular work schedules. 

With the Commerce Committee and Labor Committee’s approval, SB 1007 received bipartisan support from members of both political parties, and passed the Senate with a unanimous vote.    

But after going to the House, the DOL took issue with the components of the bill added by the Labor Committee.  As a result, the very issues with the law DOL flagged in their statewide presentations–and the ones addressed in the Commerce Committee–are now in limbo. 

At risk are these simple reforms that would help businesses without denying a single person who is entitled to paid sick leave from using the benefit.

The business community urges the House of Representatives to pass SB 1007 as soon as possible.

For more information, contact Eric Gjede at 860.244.1931 or eric.gjede@cbia.com.

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