Right before Thanksgiving, we just dropped the first episode of a new season of the podcast that I host — “From Lawyer to Employer”. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this podcast is never going to compete with those true crime podcasts out there or even my favorite music ones (I have a ..read more

With Paid Sick Leave coming to Connecticut on January 1, 2025, the CTDOL (and, ahem, some lawyers) have been fielding lots of questions from employers and employees about the new law. As a result, the department has decided to issue two sets of documents that should be of significant help to employers (and their attorneys ..read more

Connecticut’s updated Paid Sick Leave becomes effective January 1, 2025 and now is the time for most employers to update their policies and procedures. I’ve previously written about it here so I thought for this article, I’d focus on the key aspects of what employers need to know right now. Here are the key points ..read more

With the state having just experienced the first heat wave this summer, employers are facing the heat to finish some of their preparations for new laws and regulations that are scheduled to take effect. Here are three areas to think about: Paid Sick Days – Governor Lamont recently signed legislation greatly expanding the state’s current paid sick days law. Currently, it applies in both the public and private sector to certain jobs. The bill that Governor Lamont approved, will apply this law to nearly every occupation (not just retail and service jobs) though seasonal employees and some tempo ..read more

As I discussed in prior posts (here), the Senate on Monday approved a bill that will greatly expand the paid sick day law to large and small employers alike. Since it was previously approved by the House, it now goes to the Governor for his signature; he has previously indicated his willingness to sign the measure. What Does the Law Currently Say: Generally, the current paid sick day law requires certain employers with at least 50 employees to provide certain employees who are “service workers” with up to 40 hours of paid sick leave annually. What is Changing: Almost everything. Employers: Un ..read more

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