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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 761
January Session, 2019
AN ACT PROMOTING THE USE OF HONEST RECOMM ENDATIONS
BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AN D PROHIBITING AN EMPLO YER'S USE
OF A NONDISCLOSURE A GREEMENT RELATING TO ACTS OF
DISCRIMINATION OCCUR RING IN THE EMPLOYER'S WORKPLACE.
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) "Employee" means any person engaged in service to an employer 3
in a business of his or her employer; 4
(2) "Employer" means a person engaged in business who has 5
employees, including the state and any political subdivision of the 6
state; 7
(3) "Occurring in the workplace" includes attendance at an off-8
premises work-related event that is coordinated by or through the 9
employer, between employees or between an employer and an 10
employee; 11
(4) "Sexual assault" means any act that would constitute a violation 12
of section 53a-70, 53a-70a, 53a-70b, 53a-70c, 53a-71, 53a-72a, 53a-72b or 13
53a-73a of the general statutes; and 14
(5) "Sexual harassment" has the same meaning as provided in 15 Substitute Bill No. 761
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subdivision (8) of subsection (b) of section 46a-60 of the general 16
statutes. 17
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 31-128f of the general 18
statutes, if an employer knows that a person is contemplating hiring a 19
current or former employee of the employer, and the employer 20
provides such person with a recommendation or positive commentary 21
relating to the current or former employee's work performance, such 22
employer has a duty to timely disclose to such person any known act 23
of sexual harassment or sexual assault committed by the employee 24
occurring in the workplace of the employer. For purposes of this 25
section, an employer knows about an act of sexual assault when the 26
individual who provides the recommendation or positive commentary 27
is an employee or agent of the employer and knows of such act. For 28
purposes of this section, an employer knows about an act of sexual 29
harassment when the individual who provides the recommendation or 30
positive commentary is an employee or agent of the employer and 31
knows of such act, and a complaint alleging the sexual harassment was 32
filed with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities or a 33
court of competent jurisdiction. 34
(c) If an employer owes a duty to disclose to a person who is 35
contemplating hiring a current or former employee of the employer 36
under subsection (b) of this section, and such person hires the current 37
or former employee in reliance on the recommendation or positive 38
commentary, then for such time that the former employee is employed 39
by the person, the employer shall be liable to any employee of the 40
person who relied on such recommendation or positive commentary 41
for the following acts committed by the former employee occurring in 42
the workplace of the person, (1) any act of sexual harassment 43
committed by the former employee, if the employer breached its duty 44
to disclose sexual harassment, and (2) any act of sexual harassment 45
and sexual assault committed by the former employee, if the employer 46
breached its duty to disclose sexual assault. 47
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) As used in this section: 48 Substitute Bill No. 761
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(1) "Employee" means any person engaged in service to an employer in 49
a business of his or her employer; and (2) "employer" means a person 50
engaged in business who has employees, including the state and any 51
political subdivision of the state. 52
(b) No employer shall enter into or negotiate a contract with an 53
employee or prospective employee, that as a condition of employment, 54
continued employment, promotion, compensation for employment 55
services or employment benefits, contains a nondisclosure clause, 56
nondisparagement clause, waiver or other provision that has the 57
purpose or effect of preventing the employee from disclosing or 58
discussing discrimination, including harassment, occurring in the 59
employer's workplace or at an off-premises work-related event that is 60
coordinated by or through the employer, between employees, or 61
between an employer and an employee. The Labor Department may 62
impose a civil penalty, not exceeding five hundred dollars, for each 63
violation of this subsection. 64
(c) An action to redress a violation of subsection (b) of this section 65
may be maintained in any court of competent jurisdiction by any one 66
or more employees or prospective employees. An employer who 67
violates subsection (b) of this section may be found liable for 68
compensatory damages, attorney's fees and costs, punitive damages 69
and such legal and equitable relief as the court deems just and proper. 70
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section
Sec. 2 October 1, 2019 New section
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 2(b), "may issue a civil penalty" was changed to "may
impose a civil penalty" for clarity.
JUD Joint Favorable Subst.