Labor Committee Proposals Work Against Job Growth

Despite the need to recharge private-sector job growth in Connecticut, the Labor Committee is considering several proposals that would make it harder for businesses to succeed. 

• SB-359—puts an impractical burden on employers by barring them from requiring an employee to work more than eight hours of overtime per pay period without giving the worker at least 24 hours advance notice. Being able to meet their customers’ needs and respond to changing business demands would make this mandate virtually impossible in many real workplace situations.
• SB-361—prevents most employers from getting important information about a job candidate by barring the use of credit scores in hiring decisions, except in certain industries. 
• SB-953—takes away state financial assistance (loans, grants, tax abatements) and penalizes any company doing business with the state if the employer reduces their employee retirement benefits during the length of the contract. This is a measure that just doesn’t make sense in today’s ever-changing financial world. The same way individuals often adjust their own retirement accounts, businesses make those same decisions to improve company finances, enhance employees’ benefits, and achieve their goals and objectives. To penalize them for the changing fortunes of the marketplace is unfair and unpractical.
• HB-6176—increases penalties and makes employers liable for even unintentional violations of personnel records law.