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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 7044
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4770
Referred to Committee on LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
Introduced by:
(LAB)
AN ACT CONCERNING SE XUAL HARASSMENT IN THE
WORKPLACE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subdivision (15) of section 46a-54 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective 2
October 1, 2019): 3
(15) (A) To require an employer having three or more employees to 4
post in a prominent and accessible location information concerning the 5
illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available to victims of 6
sexual harassment; and (B) to require an employer having fifty or more 7
employees to provide two hours of training and education to all 8
supervisory employees within one year of October 1, 1992, and to all 9
new supervisory employees within six months of their assumption of a 10
supervisory position, provided any employer who has provided such 11
training and education to any such employees after October 1, 1991, 12
shall not be required to provide such training and education a second 13
time. Such training and education shall include, [information 14
concerning] but need not be limited to, (i) information on the federal 15
and state statutory provisions concerning sexual harassment and 16
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remedies available to victims of sexual harassment, (ii) the employer's 17
policy regarding sexual harassment, and (iii) examples of the types of 18
conduct that constitute sexual harassment, including, but not limited 19
to, the spectrum of different behaviors that constitute such harassment, 20
ranging from verbal harassment to sexual assault. As used in this 21
subdivision, "sexual harassment" has the same meaning as provided in 22
subdivision (8) of subsection (b) of section 46a-60, as amended by this 23
act, and "employer" includes the General Assembly; 24
Sec. 2. Subdivision (8) of subsection (b) of section 46a-60 of the 25
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 26
thereof (Effective October 1, 2019): 27
(8) (A) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, 28
for an employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor 29
organization, by itself or its agent, to harass any employee, person 30
seeking employment or member on the basis of sex or gender identity 31
or expression. "Sexual harassment" shall, for the purposes of this 32
subdivision, be defined as any unwelcome sexual advances or requests 33
for sexual favors or any conduct of a sexual nature when [(A)] (i) 34
submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a 35
term or condition of an individual's employment, [(B)] (ii) submission 36
to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for 37
employment decisions affecting such individual, or [(C)] (iii) such 38
conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an 39
individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or 40
offensive working environment; 41
(B) It shall not be a defense to a complaint of sexual harassment filed 42
pursuant to section 46a-82 that (i) the complaint was properly 43
investigated, immediate corrective action was taken and no act of 44
sexual harassment subsequently occurred, (ii) the complaint was not 45
reported to the respondent prior to the filing of a complaint with the 46
commission pursuant to section 46a-82, or (iii) the respondent has a 47
policy prohibiting sexual harassment or recently provided training on 48
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the meaning and effect of sexual harassment. Evidence described in 49
subclause (i), (ii), or (iii) of this subparagraph may be introduced by a 50
respondent on the question of damages; and 51
(C) If the respondent takes immediate corrective action in response 52
to a complaint of sexual harassment, such corrective action shall not 53
modify the terms and conditions of employment without the 54
complainant's express written agreement. Corrective action may 55
include, but need not be limited to, employee relocation, reassignment, 56
a different employee work schedule or other substantive changes to an 57
employee's terms and conditions of employment; 58
Sec. 3. Subsection (b) of section 46a-86 of the general statutes is 59
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective 60
October 1, 2019): 61
(b) In addition to any other action taken under this section, upon a 62
finding of a discriminatory employment practice, the presiding officer 63
[may order] shall determine the amount of damages suffered by the 64
complainant and may order the hiring, promotion or reinstatement of 65
[any individual] the complainant, with or without back pay, or 66
restoration to membership in any respondent labor organization, and 67
may award the complainant any costs actually incurred by the 68
complainant as a result of such discriminatory employment practice, 69
including, but not limited to, an award of reasonable attorneys' fees 70
and costs. The amount of such attorneys' fees awarded shall not be 71
contingent upon the amount of damages requested by or awarded to 72
the complainant. Liability for back pay shall not accrue from a date 73
more than two years prior to the filing or issuance of the complaint. 74
Interim earnings, including unemployment compensation and welfare 75
assistance or amounts which could have been earned with reasonable 76
diligence on the part of the person to whom back pay is awarded shall 77
be deducted from the amount of back pay to which such person is 78
otherwise entitled. The amount of any deduction for interim 79
unemployment compensation or welfare assistance shall be paid by 80
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the respondent to the commission which shall transfer such amount to 81
the appropriate state or local agency. 82
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 46a-54(15)
Sec. 2 October 1, 2019 46a-60(b)(8)
Sec. 3 October 1, 2019 46a-86(b)
Statement of Purpose:
To clarify provisions regarding sexual harassment prevention training,
permitted defenses regarding sexual harassment complaints, and
calculation of damages and corrective action in sexual harassment
complaint proceedings.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: REP. LINEHAN, 103rd Dist.; REP. CONLEY, 40th Dist.
SEN. FLEXER, 29th Dist.; REP. MICHEL, 146th Dist.
H.B. 7044