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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 7044
January Session, 2019
AN ACT CONCERNING SE XUAL HARASSMENT IN T HE
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repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective 2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
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 Substitute Bill No. 7044
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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general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 26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) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an 28
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] If the respondent takes 32
immediate corrective action in response to a complaint of sexual 33
harassment, such corrective action shall not modify the terms and 34
conditions of employment without the complainant's express written 35
agreement. For the purposes of this subdivision, [be defined as] 36
"sexual harassment" means any unwelcome sexual advances or 37
requests for sexual favors or any conduct of a sexual nature when (A) 38
submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a 39
term or condition of an individual's employment, (B) submission to or 40
rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for 41
employment decisions affecting such individual, or (C) such conduct 42
has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an 43
individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or 44
offensive working environment, and "corrective action" includes, but is 45
not limited to, employee relocation, reassignment, a different 46
employee work schedule or other substantive changes to an 47
employee's terms and conditions of employment; 48
Sec. 3. Subsection (b) of section 46a-86 of the general statutes is 49
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective 50
October 1, 2019): 51 Substitute Bill No. 7044
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(b) In addition to any other action taken under this section, upon a 52
finding of a discriminatory employment practice, the presiding officer 53
shall determine the amount of damages suffered by the complainant 54
and may order the hiring, promotion or reinstatement of [any 55
individual] the complainant, with or without back pay, or restoration 56
to membership in any respondent labor organization, and may award 57
the complainant any costs actually incurred by the complainant as a 58
result of such discriminatory employment practice, including, but not 59
limited to, an award of reasonable attorneys' fees and costs. The 60
amount of such attorneys' fees awarded shall not be contingent upon 61
the amount of damages requested by or awarded to the complainant. 62
Liability for back pay shall not accrue from a date more than two years 63
prior to the filing or issuance of the complaint. Interim earnings, 64
including unemployment compensation and welfare assistance or 65
amounts which could have been earned with reasonable diligence on 66
the part of the person to whom back pay is awarded shall be deducted 67
from the amount of back pay to which such person is otherwise 68
entitled. The amount of any deduction for interim unemployment 69
compensation or welfare assistance shall be paid by the respondent to 70
the commission which shall transfer such amount to the appropriate 71
state or local agency. 72
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)
JUD Joint Favorable Subst.