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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 863
January Session, 2019
AN ACT CONCERNING EM PLOYMENT PROTECTION FOR MEMBERS
OF THE CIVIL AIR PATROL.
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) "Civil air patrol" means the civilian auxiliary of the United States 3
Air Force; 4
(2) "Employee" means an individual who receives wages or 5
remuneration for providing services to an employer; and 6
(3) "Employer" means a person that provides wages or 7
remuneration to one or more individuals who perform services for the 8
employer under an express or implied contract of hire, including the 9
state and any political subdivision of the state. 10
(b) Subject to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section, an 11
employer shall not discriminate against, discipline, or discharge an 12
employee because: (1) The employee is a member of the civil air patrol; 13
or (2) the employee is absent from work for the purpose of (A) 14
responding as a member of the civil air patrol to an emergency 15
declared by the Governor of this state or the President of the United 16
States, (B) responding as a member of the civil air patrol to a request 17
for assistance in an emergency, natural disaster or life-threatening 18 Substitute Bill No. 863
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event at the request of the United States Air Force or Coast Guard, the 19
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, the Division 20
of Emergency Management and Homeland Security within the 21
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, the state 22
police or a local police department in this state, or (C) participating as a 23
member of the civil air patrol in required emergency services training 24
programs and exercises. 25
(c) In the case where the employee is absent from work for a 26
purpose set forth in subdivision (2) of subsection (b) of this section, 27
such employee shall (1) give his or her employer as much notice as 28
possible of the dates such employee will be absent for any purpose set 29
forth in subparagraph (A), (B) or (C) of subdivision (2) of subsection 30
(b) of this section, and (2) provide his or her employer with written 31
verification from the civil air patrol of the purpose of the employee's 32
absence, as set forth in subparagraph (A), (B) or (C) of subdivision (2) 33
of subsection (b) of this section. 34
(d) Nothing in subsections (a) to (c), inclusive, of this section shall be 35
construed to prohibit an employer from (1) treating the time the 36
employee is absent because of civil air patrol service for any purpose 37
set forth in subdivision (2) of subsection (b) of this section as unpaid 38
time off, or (2) complying with a collective bargaining agreement or 39
employee benefit plan entered into before October 1, 2019. 40
(e) An employee who is a member of the civil air patrol and is 41
trained and qualified to provide emergency services shall notify his or 42
her employer (1) by October 31, 2019, (2) by such employee's date of 43
employment with the employer, or (3) by the date on which such 44
employee joins the civil air patrol, whichever is latest, that such 45
employee may be called to participate in training or to serve in an 46
emergency, natural disaster or life-threatening event. 47
(f) Any employee aggrieved by a violation of subsection (b) of this 48
section may bring an action in the Superior Court to recover damages 49
and equitable relief. 50 Substitute Bill No. 863
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Sec. 2. Section 5-249 of the general statutes is repealed and the 51
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019): 52
(a) (1) Any state employee who is an active volunteer firefighter or 53
member of a volunteer ambulance service or company [(1)] (A) may, 54
with the authorization of such employee's appointing authority, be 55
permitted to leave work in order to respond to fire calls or ambulance 56
calls during such employee's regular hours of employment without 57
loss of pay, vacation time, sick leave or earned overtime accumulation, 58
or [(2)] (B) shall be permitted to respond to such calls prior to reporting 59
for work without such prior authorization and without loss of pay, 60
vacation time, sick leave or earned overtime accumulation, provided in 61
either case, if requested by such employee's appointing authority, such 62
employee submits a written statement from the chief of the volunteer 63
fire department or the medical director or chief administrator of the 64
volunteer ambulance service or company verifying that such employee 65
responded to a fire or ambulance call and specifying the date, time and 66
duration of such response. 67
(2) Any state employee who is an active member of the civil air 68
patrol, as defined in section 1 of this act, (A) may, with the 69
authorization of such employee's appointing authority, be permitted to 70
leave work in order to respond to an emergency, natural disaster or 71
life-threatening event during such employee's regular hours of 72
employment without loss of pay, vacation time, sick leave or earned 73
overtime accumulation, or (B) shall be permitted to respond to such 74
emergency, natural disaster or life- threatening event prior to reporting 75
for work without such prior authorization and without loss of pay, 76
vacation time, sick leave or earned overtime accumulation, provided in 77
either case, if requested by such employee's appointing authority, such 78
employee submits a written statement from the civil air patrol 79
verifying that such employee responded to an emergency, natural 80
disaster or life-threatening event and specifying the date, time and 81
duration of such response. 82
(b) Any state employee who is a certified disaster service volunteer 83 Substitute Bill No. 863
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of the American Red Cross may, with the authorization of such 84
employee's supervisor, be granted a leave not to exceed fifteen 85
working days in each year to participate in specialized disaster relief 86
services for the American Red Cross, upon the request of the American 87
Red Cross, without loss of pay, vacation time, sick leave or earned 88
overtime accumulation. 89
(c) (1) Any state employee who is an active volunteer firefighter or 90
member of a volunteer ambulance service or company may, with the 91
authorization of such employee's appointing authority, be allowed to 92
attend training sessions or drills during such employee's regular hours 93
of employment without loss of pay, overtime accumulation or sick 94
leave. 95
(2) Any state employee who is an active member of the civil air 96
patrol may, with the authorization of such employee's appointing 97
authority, be allowed to attend required emergency services training 98
programs and exercises during such employee's regular hours of 99
employment without loss of pay, overtime accumulation or sick leave. 100
(d) Any state employee who is an active member of a volunteer 101
canine search and rescue team (1) may, with the authorization of such 102
employee's supervisor, be permitted to leave work in order to respond 103
to search or rescue calls during such employee's regular hours of 104
employment without loss of pay, vacation time, sick leave or earned 105
overtime accumulation, or (2) shall be permitted to respond to such 106
calls prior to reporting for work without such prior authorization and 107
without loss of pay, vacation time, sick leave or earned overtime 108
accumulation, provided in either case, if requested by such employee's 109
supervisor, such employee submits a written statement from the chief 110
of the police or fire department verifying that such employee 111
responded to a search or rescue call and specifying the date, time and 112
duration of such response. As used in this subsection, "volunteer 113
canine search and rescue team" means an individual and a dog (A) 114
appropriately trained and certified to engage in search and rescue 115
operations by a nonprofit canine search and rescue organization that is 116 Substitute Bill No. 863
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a member of the National Association of Search and Rescue, or its 117
successor organization, and (B) who jointly engage in such operations 118
at the request of a police or fire department and provide services 119
without compensation. 120
(e) (1) Any state employee who is an active volunteer firefighter and 121
is injured on or after January 1, 2014, while serving in his or her 122
capacity as a volunteer firefighter, shall be permitted to collect sick 123
leave with pay for such injury pursuant to section 5-247, provided [(1)] 124
(A) such employee is eligible to receive such sick leave pay pursuant to 125
the provisions of said section, [(2)] (B) if requested by such employee's 126
appointing authority, such employee submits a written statement from 127
the chief of the volunteer fire department that such employee was 128
injured during a fire call and specifying the date, time and nature of 129
such injury, and [(3)] (C) the amount of weekly sick leave pay received 130
for such injury plus any weekly workers' compensation wage 131
replacement benefits received pursuant to section 7-314a or 7-314b for 132
such injury shall not exceed the weekly workers' compensation wage 133
replacement benefits such employee would have received had such 134
employee been injured in the course of his or her employment as a 135
state employee. A state employee's collection of sick leave pursuant to 136
this subsection shall not affect the seniority or accrual of pension 137
benefits of such state employee. The provisions of this subsection shall 138
not be construed to preempt or override the terms of any collective 139
bargaining agreement effective prior to July 1, 2015. 140
(2) Any state employee who is an active member of the civil air 141
patrol and is injured on or after October 1, 2019, while serving in his or 142
her capacity as a member of the civil air patrol, shall be permitted to 143
collect sick leave with pay for such injury pursuant to section 5-247, 144
provided (A) such employee is eligible to receive such sick leave pay 145
pursuant to the provisions of said section, and (B) if requested by such 146
employee's appointing authority, such employee submits a written 147
statement from the civil air patrol that such employee was injured 148
during an emergency, natural disaster or life-threatening event and 149 Substitute Bill No. 863
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specifying the date, time and nature of such injury. 150
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 5-249
VA Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO
JUD Joint Favorable