<H3>• Connecticut Public Act 15-196 [HB6850]— Effective October 1, 2015</H3>

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• Bottom Line: You can't discipline employees for talking about pay. This bill prohibits employers, including the state and municipalities, from taking certain steps to limit their employees' ability to share information about their wages. Under the bill, such sharing consists of employees under the same employer (1) disclosing or discussing the amount of their own wages or other employees' voluntarily disclosed wages or (2) asking about other employees' wages. Specifically, the bill bans employers from (1) prohibiting their employees from such sharing; (2) requiring employees to sign a waiver or document that denies their right to such sharing; and (3) discharging, disciplining, discriminating or retaliating against, or otherwise penalizing employees for such sharing. The bill allows employees to bring a lawsuit to redress a violation of its provisions in any court of competent jurisdiction. The suit must be brought within two years after an alleged violation. Employers can be found liable for compensatory damages, attorney's fees and costs, punitive damages, and any legal and equitable relief the court deems just and proper. House Amendment “A” limits an employee's sharing of another employee's wage information to information that (1) is about another of the employer's employees and (2) was voluntarily disclosed by the other employee. Under the bill, an employer is any individual, corporation, limited liability company, firm, partnership, voluntary association, joint stock association, the state and any of its political subdivisions, and any public corporation in the state with at least one paid employee. Wages are compensation for an employee's labor or services, regardless of whether they are determined by time, task, piece, commission, or other basis of calculation. The bill specifies that it does not require an employer or employee to disclose any employee's wages. NOTE: The analysis provided here may not be based on the ultimate language of the new Public Act as the legislature may have fiddled with it in the final stages of the law’s passage. A final copy of the language of the law can be found at PA15-196. NOTE: This report is provided with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in providing legal, financial, accounting or other professional advice. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.. © 2015 Connecticut Human Resource Reports, LLC URL: http://connecticuthumanresources.blogspot.com/

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