The end of the General Assembly session is quickly coming upon us. So it’s a good time to look at what bills are still floating around in this year’s term and what’s dead (or mostly dead) for the year. Here are just a few of the highlights: House Bill 5269, which would have banned certain noncompete agreements died in the Judiciary Committee this month, ending its chances of passage this year. But employers have bigger issues to worry about; the FTC is expected to release it’s own ban on non-compete agreements as early as this week. So stay tuned. Senate Bill 4 is still very much alive. The ..read more

The latest episode of “From Lawyer to Employer”, a Shipman podcast that I’m hosting this season, is now live and it’s all about accommodations and leaves in the workplace. What we try to tackle, however, are the more challenging or unusual accommodation requests that employers sometimes get. Accommodating someone who is restricted in their ability to lift something is far different than accommodating someone who has ADHD or a phobia or is suffering from “stress”. Oftentimes, these situations hinge on a particular fact that might be unusual or unique. In this podcast, we look at some of these ..read more

For HR professionals and employment lawyers, the basics of FMLA and ADA is an oft-covered topic in law firm webinars. But I’ve heard from plenty of people that they’re good with the basics; it’s the tricky issues that give them headaches. With the acknowledgement that one person’s difficult question may be another person’s easy one, my colleagues, Keegan Drenosky and Claire Pariano, (with an assist from someone you know from this blog, ahem) will try to tackle at least some of these challenges at the first program of my firm’s Fall Webinar Series for Employers. Starting on October 3rd at noon ..read more

In a non-election year, the Connecticut legislature always seems to be extra busy considering workplace-related bills. This year is no exception. If anything, it feels like it’s hit another gear. CTNewsJunkie had a detailed article yesterday about the subject. The Labor & Public Employees Committee has considered, and is considering, a wide array of bills that would fundamentally change certain industries and create a broad range of new benefits for employees. Just this week alone, the Committee held a hearing on bills such as predictive scheduling which would require employers to provide ..read more

Last week, I attended the ABA Annual Labor & Employment Law Conference — something I’ve written about on this blog pre-pandemic (remember when?). There were many good programs and I’ll try to talk about some of the other topics in an upcoming blog post or two. However, one topic that I was interested in was the discussion about managing leaves of absences.  In some ways, what the speakers said just reinforced certain truisms in employment law such as “Intermittent leave is a nightmare”. But there were a few helpful suggestions that are worth sharing. First, the speakers suggested tha ..read more

If you look at the state Department of Labor website, you’ll find a notation about “proposed amended FMLA regulations” that have not yet been put into place. It adds “approval pending”. As the modern saying goes: Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet. In fact, last month – as I previewed in a July post — the proposed regulations became final.  You can download them here. If you’ve been following the saga, the proposed regulations from the spring were sent back for an additional review. But having made tweaks to the regulations, they are now ready to be relied upon. My colleag ..read more

A while back, my colleagues and I talked about new final proposed regulations implementing the revised CTFMLA law. Turns out that “final” doesn’t actually mean FINAL. On June 28, 2022, the Legislation Regulation Review Committee (LRCC) rejected the so-called “final” regulation without prejudice and asked that a number of corrections be made to the regulations. Some of the proposed corrections were technical in nature while others more substantive. For example, the draft regulation tried to explain that a family member can include someone who acts like a family member (per the statute). But in ..read more

For months, employers have been eagerly awaiting updated regulations that address the revisions to the Connecticut Family and Medical Leave Act. At last, on March 22, 2022, the Connecticut Department of Labor (“CT DOL”) released its final proposed amended CTFMLA regulations, answering questions that had remained unanswered by the revised law. Indeed, the proposed regulations amend several key provisions of the prior CTFMLA regulations. My colleagues, Rauchell Beckford-Anderson and Julie Jaquays, joined me in drafting a post on our sister site, Employment Law Letter. Among the topics: What qu ..read more

It had been far too long since I last caught up with Nina Pirrotti, who represents employees and whom I’ve had a continuing “Dialogue” on employment law issues for several years now. In fact, last time we spoke for the blog, it was exactly one year ago when we were full of optimism over the vaccines. What a strange journey we’ve had over the last year. So we ended up talking about life after the latest pandemic wave, the wage range law, paid leave, and more.  Thanks to Nina for her continued participation in these important discussions. You can watch the discussion at the following link ..read more

2021 was a pretty busy year when it came to new labor & employment laws for employers in Connecticut. Even though the legislative session is a “short” session, that doesn’t mean 2022 will be quiet. Indeed, several notable bills are already under consideration by the General Assembly with a hearing scheduled on several bills for Tuesday. Here are a few to keep an eye on: Ten years ago, I highlighted a proposed “captive audience” bill that was being floated; that bill would have prohibited employers from requiring employees to listen to what their employers have to say, particularly when i ..read more