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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6536
January Session, 2021
AN ACT REQUIRING EMP LOYERS TO PROVIDE EM PLOYEES
WORKING FROM HOME CE RTAIN EQUIPMENT OR
REIMBURSEMENT FOR CE RTAIN NECESSARY EXPE NDITURES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) For purposes of this 1
section: 2
(1) "Employer" means any person engaged in business who has one 3
or more employees, including the state and any political subdivision of 4
the state; 5
(2) "Employee" means any person engaged in service to an employer 6
in the business of the employer; 7
(3) "Necessary expenditures" means all expenditures required of the 8
employee by the employer, in the discharge of employment duties that 9
inure to the primary benefit of the employer, including, but not limited 10
to, the cost of purchasing: (A) Equipment and technology, including, but 11
not limited to, computers, printers and cellular phones; (B) services, 12
including, but not limited to, internet provider services, mobile internet 13
access services and cellular telephone services; and (C) office supplies 14
such as paper, printer ink and toner. "Necessary expenditures" do not 15
include (i) expenses agreed to be borne by the employee prior to an 16
assignment to work from home; (ii) expenses or losses due to an 17 Substitute Bill No. 6536
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employee's own negligence or normal wear or theft, unless the theft was 18
a result of the employer's negligence; or (iii) expenses indirectly related 19
to the employee's scope of employment, such as costs related to 20
traveling to and from the employee's regular work location. 21
(b) An employer shall reimburse an employee for all necessary 22
expenditures incurred by the employee within the employee's scope of 23
employment and directly related to services performed for the 24
employer. 25
(c) The provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall not apply to 26
an employer who provides an employee with all equipment and 27
technology, services and office supplies necessary for the employee's 28
scope of employment and directly related to services performed for the 29
employer. 30
(d) An employer shall not be required to fully reimburse an employee 31
for necessary expenditures that are services that the employee 32
concurrently receives for his or her own personal use, except that an 33
employer shall reimburse an employee for not less than fifty per cent of 34
the cost of such services. 35
(e) An employee shall report to the employer any necessary 36
expenditures and provide appropriate supporting documentation not 37
later than thirty calendar days after incurring the expense, except that 38
an employer may provide additional time for submitting requests for 39
reimbursement in a written expense reimbursement policy. Where 40
supporting documentation is nonexistent, missing or lost, the employee 41
shall submit a signed statement regarding any such receipts. An 42
employer shall reimburse the employee for the necessary expenditure 43
no later than thirty calendar days after receiving such appropriate 44
supporting documentation or signed statement. 45
(f) An employer who has reimbursed an employee for purchasing a 46
necessary expenditure shall maintain ownership rights to the 47
equipment and technology, services or office supplies for which the 48 Substitute Bill No. 6536
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employer provided such reimbursement, except that the provisions of 49
this subsection shall not apply to reimbursements for services made 50
pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. 51
(g) An employee shall not be entitled to reimbursement under this 52
section if (1) the employer has an established written expense 53
reimbursement policy that the employee has reviewed and agreed to, 54
and (2) the employee failed to comply with the written expense 55
reimbursement policy. 56
(h) An employer is not liable under this section unless the employer 57
authorized or required the employee to incur the necessary expenditure 58
or the employer failed to comply with its own written expense 59
reimbursement policy. 60
(i) An employee or employer may file a complaint with the Labor 61
Commissioner alleging violations of this section. Upon receipt of the 62
complaint, the commissioner shall investigate such complaint and may 63
hold a hearing. The commissioner shall send each party a written copy 64
of the commissioner's decision and may award all appropriate relief. If 65
the commissioner finds that a party wilfully violated this section, he or 66
she may levy a civil penalty of up to one thousand dollars per violation. 67
Any party aggrieved by the decision of the commissioner may appeal 68
the decision to the Superior Court in accordance with the provisions of 69
chapter 54 of the general statutes. 70
(j) The Labor Commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance 71
with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes, to establish 72
procedures and guidelines necessary to implement the provisions of this 73
section. 74
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Substitute Bill No. 6536
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Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Subsec. (a)(3), "items such as" and "services such as" were deleted for
consistency with standard drafting conventions; in Subsecs. (d) and (f),
"provided" was changed to "except that" for accuracy; in Subsec. (i), "his
or her" was changed to "the commissioner's" for consistency with
standard drafting conventions; and throughout the bill, "employment-
related supplies" was changed to "office supplies" for clarity and
accuracy.
LAB Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO