LCO No. 4925 1 of 2
General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7255
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4925
Referred to Committee on HIGHER EDUCATION AND
EMPLOYMENT ADVANCEMENT
Introduced by:
(HED)
AN ACT CONCERNING PU BLIC INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER
EDUCATION AND COLLEC TIVE BARGAINING AGRE EMENTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) As used in this 1
section: 2
(1) "Labor organization" means any organization which exists and is 3
constituted for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective 4
bargaining, or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms 5
or conditions of employment, or other mutual aid or protection; and 6
(2) "Public institution of higher education" means the constituent 7
units of the state system of higher education identified in subdivisions 8
(1) and (2) of section 10a-1 of the general statutes. 9
(b) No collective bargaining agreement entered into on and after the 10
effective date of this section between a public institution of higher 11
education and a labor organization shall contain any provision (1) 12
prohibiting an employee covered under the collective bargaining 13 Raised Bill No. 7255
LCO No. 4925 2 of 2
agreement from filing a civil or administrative action alleging 14
discrimination or retaliation for the exercise of any right afforded to 15
such employee pursuant to any state or federal law, or (2) limiting in 16
any way an employee's right to arbitrate such grievance under the 17
collective bargaining agreement. 18
(c) Any employee aggrieved by a violation of subsection (b) of this 19
section may file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner alleging a 20
violation of the provisions of said subsection. Upon receipt of any such 21
complaint, the commissioner may hold a hearing. After the hearing, 22
the commissioner shall send each party a written copy of the 23
commissioner's decision. The commissioner may award the employee 24
all appropriate relief, including rehiring or reinstatement to the 25
employee's previous job, payment of back wages and reestablishment 26
of employee benefits to which the employee otherwise would have 27
been eligible if a violation of said subsection had not occurred. Any 28
party aggrieved by the decision of the commissioner may appeal the 29
decision to the Superior Court in accordance with the provisions of 30
chapter 54 of the general statutes. 31
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To prohibit public institutions of higher education from placing
provisions in collective bargaining agreements that would prevent an
employee from seeking a civil or administrative cause of action or from
seeking arbitration after the commencement of a civil or administrative
proceeding.
[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.]