Senate Bill No. 56
Public Act No. 21-69
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 Section 46a-60 of the general statutes is repealed and the
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2021):
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Pregnancy" means pregnancy, childbirth or a related condition,
including, but not limited to, lactation;
(2) "Reasonable accommodation" means, but [shall not be] is not
limited to, being permitted to sit while working, more frequent or longer
breaks, periodic rest, assistance with manual labor, job restructuring,
light duty assignments, modified work schedules, temporary transfers
to less strenuous or hazardous work, time off to recover from childbirth
or break time and appropriate facilities for expressing breast milk; and
(3) "Undue hardship" means an action requiring significant difficulty
or expense when considered in light of factors such as (A) the nature
and cost of the accommodation; (B) the overall financial resources of the
employer; (C) the overall size of the business of the employer with
respect to the number of employees, and the number, type and location Senate Bill No. 56
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of its facilities; and (D) the effect on expenses and resources or the
impact otherwise of such accommodation upon the operation of the
employer.
(b) It shall be a discriminatory practice in violation of this section:
(1) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, except
in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification or need, to refuse to
hire or employ or to bar or to discharge from employment any
individual or to discriminate against [such] any individual in
compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment
because of the individual's race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender
identity or expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present
or past history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning
disability, physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or
status as a veteran;
(2) For any employment agency, except in the case of a bona fide
occupational qualification or need, to fail or refuse to classify properly
or refer for employment or otherwise to discriminate against any
individual because of such individual's race, color, religious creed, age,
sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin,
ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual
disability, learning disability, physical disability, including, but not
limited to, blindness or status as a veteran;
(3) For a labor organization, because of the race, color, religious creed,
age, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin,
ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual
disability, learning disability, physical disability, including, but not
limited to, blindness or status as a veteran of any individual to exclude
from full membership rights or to expel from its membership such
individual or to discriminate in any way against any of its members or
against any employer or any individual employed by an employer, Senate Bill No. 56
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unless such action is based on a bona fide occupational qualification;
(4) For any person, employer, labor organization or employment
agency to discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person
because such person has opposed any discriminatory employment
practice or because such person has filed a complaint or testified or
assisted in any proceeding under section 46a-82, 46a-83 or 46a-84;
(5) For any person, whether an employer or an employee or not, to
aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any act declared to be a
discriminatory employment practice or to attempt to do so;
(6) For any person, employer, employment agency or labor
organization, except in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification
or need, to advertise employment opportunities in such a manner as to
restrict such employment so as to discriminate against individuals
because of their race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity or
expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present or past
history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability,
physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or status as a
veteran;
(7) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent: (A) To
terminate a woman's employment because of her pregnancy; (B) to
refuse to grant to that employee a reasonable leave of absence for
disability resulting from her pregnancy; (C) to deny to that employee,
who is disabled as a result of pregnancy, any compensation to which
she is entitled as a result of the accumulation of disability or leave
benefits accrued pursuant to plans maintained by the employer; (D) to
fail or refuse to reinstate the employee to her original job or to an
equivalent position with equivalent pay and accumulated seniority,
retirement, fringe benefits and other service credits upon her signifying
her intent to return unless, in the case of a private employer, the
employer's circumstances have so changed as to make it impossible or Senate Bill No. 56
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unreasonable to do so; (E) to limit, segregate or classify the employee in
a way that would deprive her of employment opportunities due to her
pregnancy; (F) to discriminate against an employee or person seeking
employment on the basis of her pregnancy in the terms or conditions of
her employment; (G) to fail or refuse to make a reasonable
accommodation for an employee or person seeking employment due to
her pregnancy, unless the employer can demonstrate that such
accommodation would impose an undue hardship on such employer;
(H) to deny employment opportunities to an employee or person
seeking employment if such denial is due to the employee's request for
a reasonable accommodation due to her pregnancy; (I) to force an
employee or person seeking employment affected by pregnancy to
accept a reasonable accommodation if such employee or person seeking
employment (i) does not have a known limitation related to her
pregnancy, or (ii) does not require a reasonable accommodation to
perform the essential duties related to her employment; (J) to require an
employee to take a leave of absence if a reasonable accommodation can
be provided in lieu of such leave; and (K) to retaliate against an
employee in the terms, conditions or privileges of her employment
based upon such employee's request for a reasonable accommodation;
(8) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an
employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization,
by itself or its agent, to harass any employee, person seeking
employment or member on the basis of sex or gender identity or
expression. If an employer takes immediate corrective action in
response to an employee's claim of sexual harassment, such corrective
action shall not modify the conditions of employment of the employee
making the claim of sexual harassment unless such employee agrees, in
writing, to any modification in the conditions of employment.
"Corrective action" taken by an employer, includes, but is not limited to,
employee relocation, assigning an employee to a different work
schedule or other substantive changes to an employee's terms and Senate Bill No. 56
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conditions of employment. Notwithstanding an employer's failure to
obtain a written agreement from an employee concerning a modification
in the conditions of employment, the commission may find that
corrective action taken by an employer was reasonable and not of
detriment to the complainant based on the evidence presented to the
commission by the complainant and respondent. As used in this
subdivision, "sexual harassment" means any unwelcome sexual
advances or requests for sexual favors or any conduct of a sexual nature
when (A) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or
implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, (B)
submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as
the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (C)
such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with
an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or
offensive working environment;
(9) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an
employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization,
by itself or its agent, to request or require information from an
employee, person seeking employment or member relating to the
individual's child-bearing age or plans, pregnancy, function of the
individual's reproductive system, use of birth control methods, or the
individual's familial responsibilities, unless such information is directly
related to a bona fide occupational qualification or need, provided an
employer, through a physician may request from an employee any such
information which is directly related to workplace exposure to
substances which may cause birth defects or constitute a hazard to an
individual's reproductive system or to a fetus if the employer first
informs the employee of the hazards involved in exposure to such
substances;
(10) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, after
informing an employee, pursuant to subdivision (9) of this subsection, Senate Bill No. 56
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of a workplace exposure to substances which may cause birth defects or
constitute a hazard to an employee's reproductive system or to a fetus,
to fail or refuse, upon the employee's request, to take reasonable
measures to protect the employee from the exposure or hazard
identified, or to fail or refuse to inform the employee that the measures
taken may be the subject of a complaint filed under the provisions of
this chapter. Nothing in this subdivision is intended to prohibit an
employer from taking reasonable measures to protect an employee from
exposure to such substances. For the purpose of this subdivision,
"reasonable measures" shall be those measures which are consistent
with business necessity and are least disruptive of the terms and
conditions of the employee's employment;
(11) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an
employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization,
by itself or its agent: (A) To request or require genetic information from
an employee, person seeking employment or member, or (B) to
discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person on the
basis of genetic information. For the purpose of this subdivision,
"genetic information" means the information about genes, gene
products or inherited characteristics that may derive from an individual
or a family member; [.]
(12) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, to
request or require a prospective employee's age, date of birth, dates of
attendance at or date of graduation from an educational institution on
an initial employment application, provided the provisions of this
subdivision shall not apply to any employer requesting or requiring
such information (A) based on a bona fide occupational qualification or
need, or (B) when such information is required to comply with any
provision of state or federal law.
(c) (1) The provisions of this section concerning age shall not apply
to: (A) The termination of employment of any person with a contract of Senate Bill No. 56
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unlimited tenure at an independent institution of higher education who
is mandatorily retired, on or before July 1, 1993, after having attained
the age of seventy; (B) the termination of employment of any person
who has attained the age of sixty-five and who, for the two years
immediately preceding such termination, is employed in a bona fide
executive or a high policy-making position, if such person is entitled to
an immediate nonforfeitable annual retirement benefit under a pension,
profit-sharing, savings or deferred compensation plan, or any
combination of such plans, from such person's employer, which equals,
in aggregate, at least forty-four thousand dollars; (C) the termination of
employment of persons in occupations, including police work and fire-
fighting, in which age is a bona fide occupational qualification; (D) the
operation of any bona fide apprenticeship system or plan; or (E) the
observance of the terms of a bona fide seniority system or any bona fide
employee benefit plan for retirement, pensions or insurance which is not
adopted for the purpose of evading said provisions, except that no such
plan may excuse the failure to hire any individual and no such system
or plan may require or permit the termination of employment on the
basis of age. No such plan which covers less than twenty employees may
reduce the group hospital, surgical or medical insurance coverage
provided under the plan to any employee who has reached the age of
sixty-five and is eligible for Medicare benefits or any employee's spouse
who has reached age sixty-five and is eligible for Medicare benefits
except to the extent such coverage is provided by Medicare. The terms
of any such plan which covers twenty or more employees shall entitle
any employee who has attained the age of sixty-five and any employee's
spouse who has attained the age of sixty-five to group hospital, surgical
or medical insurance coverage under the same conditions as any
covered employee or spouse who is under the age of sixty-five.
(2) No employee retirement or pension plan may exclude any
employee from membership in such plan or cease or reduce the
employee's benefit accruals or allocations under such plan on the basis Senate Bill No. 56
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of age. The provisions of this subdivision shall be applicable to plan
years beginning on or after January 1, 1988, except that for any
collectively bargained plan this subdivision shall be applicable on the
earlier of (A) January 1, 1990, or (B) the later of (i) the expiration date of
the collective bargaining agreement, or (ii) January 1, 1988.
(3) The provisions of this section concerning age shall not prohibit an
employer from requiring medical examinations for employees for the
purpose of determining such employees' physical qualification for
continued employment.
(4) Any employee who continues employment beyond the normal
retirement age in the applicable retirement or pension plan shall give
notice of intent to retire, in writing, to such employee's employer not
less than thirty days prior to the date of such retirement.
(d) (1) An employer shall provide written notice of the right to be free
from discrimination in relation to pregnancy, childbirth and related
conditions, including the right to a reasonable accommodation to the
known limitations related to pregnancy pursuant to subdivision (7) of
subsection (b) of this section to: (A) New employees at the
commencement of employment; (B) existing employees within one
hundred twenty days after the effective date of this section; and (C) any
employee who notifies the employer of her pregnancy within ten days
of such notification. An employer may comply with the provisions of
this section by displaying a poster in a conspicuous place, accessible to
employees, at the employer's place of business that contains the
information required by this section in both English and Spanish. The
Labor Commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance with
chapter 54, to establish additional requirements concerning the means
by which employers shall provide such notice.
(2) The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities shall
develop courses of instruction and conduct ongoing public education Senate Bill No. 56
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efforts as necessary to inform employers, employees, employment
agencies and persons seeking employment about their rights and
responsibilities under this section.