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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 56
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 1705
Referred to Committee on AGING
Introduced by:
(AGE)
AN ACT DETERRING AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT
APPLICATIONS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 46a-60 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2021): 2
(a) As used in this section: 3
(1) "Pregnancy" means pregnancy, childbirth or a related condition, 4
including, but not limited to, lactation; 5
(2) "Reasonable accommodation" means, but [shall not be] is not 6
limited to, being permitted to sit while working, more frequent or longer 7
breaks, periodic rest, assistance with manual labor, job restructuring, 8
light duty assignments, modified work schedules, temporary transfers 9
to less strenuous or hazardous work, time off to recover from childbirth 10
or break time and appropriate facilities for expressing breast milk; and 11
(3) "Undue hardship" means an action requiring significant difficulty 12
or expense when considered in light of factors such as (A) the nature 13 Committee Bill No. 56
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and cost of the accommodation; (B) the overall financial resources of the 14
employer; (C) the overall size of the business of the employer with 15
respect to the number of employees, and the number, type and location 16
of its facilities; and (D) the effect on expenses and resources or the 17
impact otherwise of such accommodation upon the operation of the 18
employer. 19
(b) It shall be a discriminatory practice in violation of this section: 20
(1) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, except 21
in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification or need, to refuse to 22
hire or employ or to bar or to discharge from employment any 23
individual or to discriminate against [such] any individual in 24
compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment 25
because of the individual's race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender 26
identity or expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present 27
or past history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning 28
disability, physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or 29
status as a veteran; 30
(2) For any employment agency, except in the case of a bona fide 31
occupational qualification or need, to fail or refuse to classify properly 32
or refer for employment or otherwise to discriminate against any 33
individual because of such individual's race, color, religious creed, age, 34
sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, 35
ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual 36
disability, learning disability, physical disability, including, but not 37
limited to, blindness or status as a veteran; 38
(3) For a labor organization, because of the race, color, religious creed, 39
age, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, 40
ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual 41
disability, learning disability, physical disability, including, but not 42
limited to, blindness or status as a veteran of any individual to exclude 43
from full membership rights or to expel from its membership such 44
individual or to discriminate in any way against any of its members or 45 Committee Bill No. 56
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against any employer or any individual employed by an employer, 46
unless such action is based on a bona fide occupational qualification; 47
(4) For any person, employer, labor organization or employment 48
agency to discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person 49
because such person has opposed any discriminatory employment 50
practice or because such person has filed a complaint or testified or 51
assisted in any proceeding under section 46a-82, 46a-83 or 46a-84; 52
(5) For any person, whether an employer or an employee or not, to 53
aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any act declared to be a 54
discriminatory employment practice or to attempt to do so; 55
(6) For any person, employer, employment agency or labor 56
organization, except in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification 57
or need, to advertise employment opportunities in such a manner as to 58
restrict such employment so as to discriminate against individuals 59
because of their race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity or 60
expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present or past 61
history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability, 62
physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or status as a 63
veteran; 64
(7) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent: (A) To 65
terminate a woman's employment because of her pregnancy; (B) to 66
refuse to grant to that employee a reasonable leave of absence for 67
disability resulting from her pregnancy; (C) to deny to that employee, 68
who is disabled as a result of pregnancy, any compensation to which 69
she is entitled as a result of the accumulation of disability or leave 70
benefits accrued pursuant to plans maintained by the employer; (D) to 71
fail or refuse to reinstate the employee to her original job or to an 72
equivalent position with equivalent pay and accumulated seniority, 73
retirement, fringe benefits and other service credits upon her signifying 74
her intent to return unless, in the case of a private employer, the 75
employer's circumstances have so changed as to make it impossible or 76
unreasonable to do so; (E) to limit, segregate or classify the employee in 77 Committee Bill No. 56
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a way that would deprive her of employment opportunities due to her 78
pregnancy; (F) to discriminate against an employee or person seeking 79
employment on the basis of her pregnancy in the terms or conditions of 80
her employment; (G) to fail or refuse to make a reasonable 81
accommodation for an employee or person seeking employment due to 82
her pregnancy, unless the employer can demonstrate that such 83
accommodation would impose an undue hardship on such employer; 84
(H) to deny employment opportunities to an employee or person 85
seeking employment if such denial is due to the employee's request for 86
a reasonable accommodation due to her pregnancy; (I) to force an 87
employee or person seeking employment affected by pregnancy to 88
accept a reasonable accommodation if such employee or person seeking 89
employment (i) does not have a known limitation related to her 90
pregnancy, or (ii) does not require a reasonable accommodation to 91
perform the essential duties related to her employment; (J) to require an 92
employee to take a leave of absence if a reasonable accommodation can 93
be provided in lieu of such leave; and (K) to retaliate against an 94
employee in the terms, conditions or privileges of her employment 95
based upon such employee's request for a reasonable accommodation; 96
(8) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an 97
employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization, 98
by itself or its agent, to harass any employee, person seeking 99
employment or member on the basis of sex or gender identity or 100
expression. If an employer takes immediate corrective action in 101
response to an employee's claim of sexual harassment, such corrective 102
action shall not modify the conditions of employment of the employee 103
making the claim of sexual harassment unless such employee agrees, in 104
writing, to any modification in the conditions of employment. 105
"Corrective action" taken by an employer, includes, but is not limited to, 106
employee relocation, assigning an employee to a different work 107
schedule or other substantive changes to an employee's terms and 108
conditions of employment. Notwithstanding an employer's failure to 109
obtain a written agreement from an employee concerning a modification 110
in the conditions of employment, the commission may find that 111 Committee Bill No. 56
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corrective action taken by an employer was reasonable and not of 112
detriment to the complainant based on the evidence presented to the 113
commission by the complainant and respondent. As used in this 114
subdivision, "sexual harassment" means any unwelcome sexual 115
advances or requests for sexual favors or any conduct of a sexual nature 116
when (A) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or 117
implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, (B) 118
submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as 119
the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (C) 120
such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with 121
an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or 122
offensive working environment; 123
(9) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an 124
employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization, 125
by itself or its agent, to request or require information from an 126
employee, person seeking employment or member relating to the 127
individual's child-bearing age or plans, pregnancy, function of the 128
individual's reproductive system, use of birth control methods, or the 129
individual's familial responsibilities, unless such information is directly 130
related to a bona fide occupational qualification or need, provided an 131
employer, through a physician may request from an employee any such 132
information which is directly related to workplace exposure to 133
substances which may cause birth defects or constitute a hazard to an 134
individual's reproductive system or to a fetus if the employer first 135
informs the employee of the hazards involved in exposure to such 136
substances; 137
(10) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, after 138
informing an employee, pursuant to subdivision (9) of this subsection, 139
of a workplace exposure to substances which may cause birth defects or 140
constitute a hazard to an employee's reproductive system or to a fetus, 141
to fail or refuse, upon the employee's request, to take reasonable 142
measures to protect the employee from the exposure or hazard 143
identified, or to fail or refuse to inform the employee that the measures 144 Committee Bill No. 56
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taken may be the subject of a complaint filed under the provisions of 145
this chapter. Nothing in this subdivision is intended to prohibit an 146
employer from taking reasonable measures to protect an employee from 147
exposure to such substances. For the purpose of this subdivision, 148
"reasonable measures" shall be those measures which are consistent 149
with business necessity and are least disruptive of the terms and 150
conditions of the employee's employment; 151
(11) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an 152
employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization, 153
by itself or its agent: (A) To request or require genetic information from 154
an employee, person seeking employment or member, or (B) to 155
discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person on the 156
basis of genetic information. For the purpose of this subdivision, 157
"genetic information" means the information about genes, gene 158
products or inherited characteristics that may derive from an individual 159
or a family member; 160
(12) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, to 161
request or require a prospective employee's age, date of birth, dates of 162
attendance at or date of graduation from an educational institution on 163
an initial employment application, provided the provisions of this 164
subdivision shall not apply to any employer requesting or requiring 165
such information (A) based on a bona fide occupational qualification or 166
need, or (B) when such information is required to comply with any 167
provision of state or federal law. 168
(c) (1) The provisions of this section concerning age shall not apply 169
to: (A) The termination of employment of any person with a contract of 170
unlimited tenure at an independent institution of higher education who 171
is mandatorily retired, on or before July 1, 1993, after having attained 172
the age of seventy; (B) the termination of employment of any person 173
who has attained the age of sixty-five and who, for the two years 174
immediately preceding such termination, is employed in a bona fide 175
executive or a high policy-making position, if such person is entitled to 176
an immediate nonforfeitable annual retirement benefit under a pension, 177 Committee Bill No. 56
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profit-sharing, savings or deferred compensation plan, or any 178
combination of such plans, from such person's employer, which equals, 179
in aggregate, at least forty-four thousand dollars; (C) the termination of 180
employment of persons in occupations, including police work and fire-181
fighting, in which age is a bona fide occupational qualification; (D) the 182
operation of any bona fide apprenticeship system or plan; or (E) the 183
observance of the terms of a bona fide seniority system or any bona fide 184
employee benefit plan for retirement, pensions or insurance which is not 185
adopted for the purpose of evading said provisions, except that no such 186
plan may excuse the failure to hire any individual and no such system 187
or plan may require or permit the termination of employment on the 188
basis of age. No such plan which covers less than twenty employees may 189
reduce the group hospital, surgical or medical insurance coverage 190
provided under the plan to any employee who has reached the age of 191
sixty-five and is eligible for Medicare benefits or any employee's spouse 192
who has reached age sixty-five and is eligible for Medicare benefits 193
except to the extent such coverage is provided by Medicare. The terms 194
of any such plan which covers twenty or more employees shall entitle 195
any employee who has attained the age of sixty-five and any employee's 196
spouse who has attained the age of sixty-five to group hospital, surgical 197
or medical insurance coverage under the same conditions as any 198
covered employee or spouse who is under the age of sixty-five. 199
(2) No employee retirement or pension plan may exclude any 200
employee from membership in such plan or cease or reduce the 201
employee's benefit accruals or allocations under such plan on the basis 202
of age. The provisions of this subdivision shall be applicable to plan 203
years beginning on or after January 1, 1988, except that for any 204
collectively bargained plan this subdivision shall be applicable on the 205
earlier of (A) January 1, 1990, or (B) the later of (i) the expiration date of 206
the collective bargaining agreement, or (ii) January 1, 1988. 207
(3) The provisions of this section concerning age shall not prohibit an 208
employer from requiring medical examinations for employees for the 209
purpose of determining such employees' physical qualification for 210 Committee Bill No. 56
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continued employment. 211
(4) Any employee who continues employment beyond the normal 212
retirement age in the applicable retirement or pension plan shall give 213
notice of intent to retire, in writing, to such employee's employer not 214
less than thirty days prior to the date of such retirement. 215
(d) (1) An employer shall provide written notice of the right to be free 216
from discrimination in relation to pregnancy, childbirth and related 217
conditions, including the right to a reasonable accommodation to the 218
known limitations related to pregnancy pursuant to subdivision (7) of 219
subsection (b) of this section to: (A) New employees at the 220
commencement of employment; (B) existing employees within one 221
hundred twenty days after the effective date of this section; and (C) any 222
employee who notifies the employer of her pregnancy within ten days 223
of such notification. An employer may comply with the provisions of 224
this section by displaying a poster in a conspicuous place, accessible to 225
employees, at the employer's place of business that contains the 226
information required by this section in both English and Spanish. The 227
Labor Commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance with 228
chapter 54, to establish additional requirements concerning the means 229
by which employers shall provide such notice. 230
(2) The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities shall 231
develop courses of instruction and conduct ongoing public education 232
efforts as necessary to inform employers, employees, employment 233
agencies and persons seeking employment about their rights and 234
responsibilities under this section. 235
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2021 46a-60
AGE Joint Favorable