Researcher: LRH Page 1 4/15/21
OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 1002
AN ACT CONCERNING LABOR ISSUES RELATED TO COVID -19,
PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT AND OTHER STAFFING
MATTERS.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
SUMMARY
§ 1 — PROHIBITION AGAINST EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE AND
MISINFORMATION FOR W ORKERS’ COMPENSATION CLAIMS
Prohibits employers from deliberately misinforming employees about or dissuading them
from filing a workers’ compensation claim
§ 2 — WORKERS’ COMPENSATIO N NOTICE OF CONTROVERSY
Requires employers or insurers to file a notice of controversy when there is a disputed
request for medical or surgical aid or hospital and nursing services
§ 3 — WORKERS’ COMPENSATIO N REBUTTABLE PRESUMP TION
FOR COVID-19
Establishes the conditions under which employees must be presumed to have contracted
COVID-19 in the course of their employment
§ 4 — WORKERS’ COMPENSATIO N BURIAL EXPENSES
Establishes a $20,000 benefit for burial expenses for an employee who dies due to
contracting COVID-19, and increases the general benefit for burial expenses from $4,000
to $20,000, with future annual adjustments for inflation
§§ 5 & 6 — WORKERS’ COMPENSATIO N PTSI BENEFITS
Expands eligibility for workers’ compensation PTSI benefits to include emergency
medical services personnel, DOC employees, 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers, and under
certain circumstances related to COVID-19, health care providers
§ 7 — EMPLOYEE RECALL RIGH TS
Requires employers to offer available jobs to their laid-off employees who (1) held the
same or similar position when they were most recently separated from service with the
employer or (2) can be qualified for the position with the same training as a new employee
§ 8 — PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT STOCKPILES
Requires the DPH commissioner to procure PPE to create two stockpiles; establishes
priorities for stockpile use during a public health emergency
§ 9 — PPE EVALUATION, DISTRIBUTION, AND APPROVAL
PROCESS
Requires DEMHS to establish a process to evaluate, distribute, and approve PPE for use
during public health emergencies 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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§ 10 — PPE REQUIREMENTS FOR HEALTHCARE AND LONG -TERM
CARE PROVIDERS
Requires health care providers and long-term care providers to maintain enough new
PPE for 90 days of surge consumption during a state of emergency; allows for exemptions
and DPH waivers under certain circumstances
§ 11 — HOSPITAL AND NURSING HOME DATA
Requires hospitals and nursing homes to collect and post certain data related to their
COVID-19 cases
§§ 12-19 & 32 — PANDEMIC PAY
Establishes a grant program and requires employers to apply for grants that they must use
to provide additional pandemic pay to their essential employees ($5 per hour) and
specialized risk employees ($10 per hour.) for their hours worked mitigating or
responding to the COVID-19 emergency between March 20, 2020, and April 30, 2021
§§ 20-25 — COVID-19 SICK LEAVE
Requires private-sector employers to provide their employees with up to 80 hours of
additional COVID-19 paid sick leave that they can use for certain purposes related to
COVID-19
§§ 26-27 — UNEMPLOYMENT TAX EXP ERIENCE RATES
Disregards benefit charges and taxable wages between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2021,
when calculating an employer’s experience rate; similarly disregards benefits and taxable
wages for 2020 and 2021 when calculating the unemployment tax rate for new employers
§ 28 — UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT ROUND-UP
Requires that an unemployment claimant’s benefits be rounded up to the extent needed for
the claimant to qualify for a program that provides 100% federally funded benefits for
unemployment related to COVID-19
§ 29 — FELONY UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT FRAUD
Increases, from $500 to $2,000, the financial threshold used to determine whether
someone's unemployment compensation fraud is a misdemeanor or a felony
§ 30 — PROJECT LABOR AGREEM ENTS
Requires state agencies to consider using PLAs when they contract for a public works
project worth at least $10 million; requires contractors bidding on those contracts to be
prequalified by DAS
§ 31 — NOTICE OF HOSPITAL NURSING STAFF LEVELS
Requires hospitals to post certain information about their nursing staff levels and hours
BACKGROUND
SUMMARY
This bill contains numerous provisions generally related to the
impact of COVID-19 on employment and workplace-related issues.
Among other things, the bill generally:
1. establishes the conditions under which employees who died or 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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were unable to work due to contracting COVID-19 must be
presumed to have contracted it in the course of their
employment (making them eligible for workers’ compensation
benefits);
2. expands eligibility for workers’ compensation benefits for post-
traumatic stress injuries to include emergency medical services
personnel; Department of Correction employees; 9-1-1
emergency dispatchers; and, under certain circumstances
related to COVID-19, health care providers;
3. requires employers to offer available jobs to certain laid-off
employees who (1) held the same or similar position when they
were most recently separated from service with the employer or
(2) can be qualified for the position with the same training as a
new employee;
4. requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) commissioner
to procure two stockpiles of personal protective equipment
(PPE) and establishes priorities for stockpile use during a public
health emergency;
5. requires health care providers and long-term care providers to
maintain enough new PPE for 90 days of surge consumption
during a state of emergency;
6. establishes a grant program and requires employers to apply for
grants that they must use to provide additional pandemic pay
to their essential employees ($5 per hour) and specialized risk
employees ($10 per hour) for their hours worked between
March 20, 2020, and April 30, 2021; and
7. requires private-sector employers to provide their employees
with up to 80 hours of additional COVID-19 paid sick leave that
they can use for certain purposes related to COVID-19.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage, unless otherwise noted below. 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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§ 1 — PROHIBITION AGAINST EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE AND
MISINFORMATION FOR W ORKERS’ COMPENSATION CLAIMS
Prohibits employers from deliberately misinforming employees about or dissuading them
from filing a workers’ compensation claim
Current law prohibits employers from discharging or
discriminating against an employee because the employee filed a
workers’ compensation claim or exercised his or her rights under the
workers’ compensation law. The bill expands this protection to also
prohibit employers from (1) disciplining employees for filing a claim
or exercising their rights or (2) deliberately misinforming or
dissuading them from filing a claim. (This codifies Executive Order 7JJJ
(2020).)
As under current law, employees subjected to a violation may either
bring a lawsuit in Superior Court or file a complaint with the Workers’
Compensation Commission.
§ 2 — WORKERS’ COMPENSATIO N NOTICE OF CONTROVE RSY
Requires employers or insurers to file a notice of controversy when there is a disputed
request for medical or surgical aid or hospital and nursing services
The bill requires an employer or insurer to file a notice of
controversy (presumably with a workers’ compensation
commissioner) when there is a dispute over whether a workers’
compensation-related request for medical or surgical aid or hospital
and nursing services, including mechanical aids and prescriptions, is
reasonable or necessary. The employer or insurer must also send a
copy of the notice to the originator of the request.
The bill allows a health care provider, employee, or other interested
party to request a hearing about paying for the disputed medical and
related services. It also specifies that (1) payment of the medical bill by
an employer or insurer is not an admission of the reasonableness of
subsequent medical bills and (2) it does not affect other workers’
compensation provisions for notices of a claim for compensation or
notices contesting liability.
§ 3 — WORKERS’ COMPENSATIO N REBUT TABLE
PRESUMPTION FOR COVI D-19 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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Establishes the conditions under which employees must be presumed to have contracted
COVID-19 in the course of their employment
Presumption
For adjudicating workers’ compensation claims, the bill requires
that an employee who died or was unable to work due to contracting
COVID-19, or having symptoms later diagnosed as COVID-19, is
presumed to have contracted it as an occupational disease arising out
of and in the course of employment (making them eligible for workers’
compensation benefits) if:
1. the death or lost work occurred during (a) the current COVID-
19 public health and civil preparedness emergencies or (b) new
ones declared by the governor because of a COVID-19 outbreak
in the state;
2. the contraction of COVID-19 is confirmed by a positive lab test
or, if one is not available, diagnosed based on the employee’s
symptoms and documented by a licensed physician, physician
assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse;
3. a copy of the test or diagnosis documentation is provided to the
employer or insurer; and
4. the employee did not, during the 14 consecutive days
immediately before the employee’s death or inability to work,
(a) work solely from home, with no physical interaction with
other employees, or (b) receive an individualized written offer
or directive to work solely from home, but otherwise chose to
work at the employer’s worksite.
The bill specifies that COVID-19 is an occupational disease for those
diagnosed with it as described above. In effect, this gives them three
years from the first manifestation of a symptom to file a workers’
compensation claim (see CGS § 31-294c).
Employer Rebuttal
The bill allows employers or insurers to rebut the presumption if
they clearly demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that the 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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employee’s employment did not directly cause his or her COVID-19.
The employer or insurer must provide evidence to rebut the
presumption within 10 days after filing a notice to contest the claim.
Under the bill, if the employer successfully rebuts the presumption,
a compensation commissioner must still decide the employee’s claim
on its merits under the established practices of causation (i.e., the
employee would have to prove that he or she contracted the disease in
the course of employment). The bill additionally specifies that an
employee who contracted COVID-19 but does not qualify for the
presumption is not precluded from making a general workers’
compensation claim.
The bill requires that an employee’s pre-existing condition have no
bearing on the merits of a claim, both for approving it and continuing
benefits that have been awarded. It also specifies that the bill’s
reapportioning of the levels of the burdens of proof between the
parties is a procedural change intended to apply to all existing and
future COVID-19 claims.
Report
The bill requires the Workers’ Compensation Commission, from
July 1, 2021, to January 1, 2023, to provide monthly reports on COVID-
19 claims to the Labor and Public Employees and Insurance
committees. The reports must include the:
1. number of total COVID-19 workers’ compensation claims filed
since May 10, 2020;
2. number of record-only (i.e., uncontested) claims filed by
hospitals, nursing homes, municipalities, and other employers,
listed by employer name;
3. number of COVID-19 workers’ compensation cases filed by
state employees in each agency;
4. number of these claims contested by each individual employer,
including state agencies, third-party administrators, and 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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insurers, by client;
5. reasons cited by each employer, including state agencies, third-
party administrators, or insurers, by client, for contesting the
claims;
6. number of claims that have had a hearing with the commission;
7. number of (a) commission rulings on appealed claims, (b)
approved voluntary agreements, (c) findings and awards, (d)
findings and dismissals, (e) petitions for review, and (f)
stipulations;
8. average time it took to schedule an initial hearing after one was
requested; and
9. average time it took to adjudicate contested COVID-19 workers’
compensation claims.
The bill requires employers, including state agencies, third-party
administrators, and insurers, to comply with all requests from the
Workers’ Compensation Commission for information it must include
in the reports.
§ 4 — WORKERS’ COMPENSATIO N BURIAL EXPENSES
Establishes a $20,000 benefit for burial expenses for an employee who dies due to
contracting COVID-19, and increases the general benefit for burial expenses from $4,000
to $20,000, with future annual adjustments for inflation
The bill establishes a $20,000 workers’ compensation benefit for
burial expenses in any case in which the employee died due to
contracting COVID-19 during the current COVID-19 public health and
civil preparedness emergencies or new ones declared by the governor
because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the state.
It also increases the current standard benefit for burial expenses
from $4,000 to $20,000 once the bill passes. Then, starting on January 1,
2022, the bill requires the standard benefit to be annually adjusted by
the previous calendar year’s percentage increase in the Consumer
Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers in the 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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Northeast.
§§ 5 & 6 — WORKERS’ COMPENSATIO N PTSI BENEFITS
Expands eligibility for workers’ compensation PTSI benefits to include emergency medical
services personnel, DOC employees, 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers, and under certain
circumstances related to COVID-19, health care providers
The bill expands eligibility for workers’ compensation benefits for
post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSI) to cover (1) emergency medical
services (EMS) personnel; (2) all Department of Correction (DOC)
employees; (3) telecommunicators (i.e., 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers);
and (4) under certain circumstances related to COVID-19, health care
providers. The bill also changes the terminology used in the
underlying law by replacing “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD)
with “post-traumatic stress injury.”
Current law provides workers’ compensation PTSD benefits to
police officers, DOC-employed parole officers, and firefighters
diagnosed with PTSD as direct result of certain qualifying events (e.g.,
witnessing someone’s death) that occur in the line of duty. The bill
allows EMS personnel, DOC employees, and emergency dispatchers to
qualify for benefits through the same qualifying events, although the
dispatchers may do so by hearing them. Qualifying events for health
care providers under the bill are the same types of events, but they
must have occurred due to, or as a result of, COVID-19.
The bill also makes technical and conforming changes.
EMS Personnel, Telecommunicators, and Health Care Providers
Under the bill, “emergency medical services personnel” are certified
emergency medical responders, emergency medical technicians,
advanced emergency medical technicians, EMS instructors, and
licensed paramedics.
“Telecommunicators” are individuals engaged in or employed by a
public or private safety agency as telecommunications operators (1)
whose primary responsibility is receiving or processing 9-1-1 calls for
emergency assistance or dispatching emergency services provided by
public safety agencies and (2) who receive or disseminate information 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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relative to emergency assistance by telephone or radio.
“Health care providers” are people employed at a physician’s office,
hospital, health care center, clinic, medical school, local health
department or agency, nursing or retirement facility, nursing home,
group home, home health care provider, facility that performs
laboratory or medical testing, or pharmacy or any similar institution.
They also include people who provide personal care assistance (PCAs)
under a state-funded program, such as the Connecticut Home Care
Program for Elders.
(Existing workers’ compensation law, unchanged by the bill, only
covers people who work in or about a private dwelling if they are
regularly employed by the dwelling’s owner or occupier for more than
26 hours per week (CGS § 31-275(9)(B)(iv)). It is unclear if this 26-hour
work threshold would also apply to PCAs under the bill.)
Qualifying Events
Under current law, police officers, parole officers, and firefighters
are eligible for workers’ compensation PTSD benefits if a mental health
professional examines them and diagnoses PTSD as a direct result of a
qualifying event in the line of duty.
For EMS, DOC Employees, and Emergency Dispatchers. The bill
extends current law’s eligibility requirements to EMS personnel, DOC
employees, and emergency dispatchers. Thus, their PTSI diagnosis is
compensable with workers’ compensation benefits if a mental health
professional examines them and diagnoses PTSI as a direct result of an
event that occurs in the line of duty on or after July 1, 2019, and in
which they:
1. view a deceased minor;
2. witness (a) a person’s death or an incident involving a person’s
death, (b) an injury to a person who subsequently dies before or
upon admission to a hospital as a result of the injury and not
any other intervening cause, or (c) a traumatic physical injury
that results in the loss of a vital body part or a vital body 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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function that results in the victim’s permanent disfigurement; or
3. carry, or have physical contact with and treat, an injured person
who subsequently dies before or upon admission at a hospital
as a result of the injury and not any other intervening cause.
For emergency dispatchers, however, witnessing a “qualifying
event” is hearing, by telephone or radio (1) someone’s death or an
incident involving someone’s death; (2) an injury to someone who
subsequently dies before or upon admission to a hospital because of
the injury; or (3) a traumatic physical injury that results in the loss of a
vital body part or a vital body function that results in the victim’s
permanent disfigurement.
For Health Care Providers. For health care providers under the
bill, a qualifying event is an event arising in and out of the course of
employment on or after March 10, 2020, in which the provider was
engaged in activities substantially dedicated to mitigating or
responding to the COVID-19 emergency and:
1. witnessed the death of a person due to COVID-19,
2. witnessed an injury to a person who subsequently died as a
result of COVID-19,
3. had physical contact with and treated or provided care for a
person who subsequently died as a result of COVID-19, or
4. witnessed a traumatic physical injury that resulted in someone’s
loss of a vital body function due to COVID-19.
PTSI Benefits and Procedure
Under the bill, the PTSI benefits provided to EMS personnel, DOC
employees, emergency dispatchers, and health care providers are
subject to the same limitations and procedures that current law applies
to the benefits for firefighters, police, and parole officers. Among other
things, this (1) caps the benefits’ duration at 52 weeks; (2) prohibits the
benefits from being awarded beyond four years after the qualifying 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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event; and (3) requires that employers contest a claim for PTSI benefits
through a process that is generally similar to the one used for
contesting other workers’ compensation claims, although with
different deadlines.
§ 7 — EMPLOYEE RECALL RIGH TS
Requires employers to offer available jobs to their laid-off employees who (1) held the same
or similar position when they were most recently separated from service with the employer
or (2) can be qualified for the position with the same training as a new employee
This bill requires private-sector employers with at least five
employees to meet certain requirements related to recalling certain
employees laid off between March 10, 2020, and December 31, 2024.
Among other things, these employers must notify laid-off employees
about available positions for which a laid-off employee is qualified and
offer the positions first to those who previously held the same or a
similar position, then to those who can qualify for the position with the
same training as a new employee.
Covered Employers and Laid-off Employees
An “employer” covered by the bill is any person who conducts an
“enterprise” and employs or exercises control over the wages, hours,
or working conditions of any employee. It includes corporate officers
or executives, acting directly or indirectly, or through an agent or any
other person, including through the services of a temporary service or
staffing agency or similar entity. An “enterprise” is any income-
producing economic activity conducted in the state that employs five
or more employees.
A “laid-off employee” covered by the bill is an employee (1)
employed by an employer for at least six of the twelve months
preceding March 10, 2020, and (2) whose most recent separation from
active service with, or whose failure to be scheduled for customary
seasonal work by, that employer occurred between March 10, 2020,
and December 31, 2024, due to a lack of business or a reduction or
furlough of the employer’s workforce; the current COVID-19 public
health and civil preparedness emergencies; or other economic, non-
disciplinary reasons. “Customary seasonal work” is work performed 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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by an employee for approximately the same portion of each calendar
year.
Recall Notice and Preference
Notice. The bill requires an employer to send each of its laid-off
employees a notice about its available job positions for which the laid-
off employee is qualified. Under the bill, laid-off employees are
qualified if they (1) held the same or a similar position at the enterprise
when they were most recently separated from service with the
employer or (2) are or can be qualified for the position with the same
training as a new employee hired for the position. The notice must be
sent (1) in writing to the laid-off employee’s last known physical
address and e-mail address and (2) by text message to his or her
mobile phone. (The bill does not specify when an employer must send
the notices or how often it must do so.)
Recall Order of Preference. The bill requires employers to offer
positions to laid-off employees in the same order of preference that
they are deemed qualified above: first to those who held the same or a
similar position before their separation, then to those who can qualify
for the position with the same training as a new employee. If more
than one (presumably, laid-off) employee is entitled to preference for a
position, the bill requires the employer to offer the position to the
(presumably, laid-off) employee with the greatest length of service at
the employment site. An employer may offer a position to more than
one laid-off employee, with the final offer for the position conditioned
upon the same order of preference as described above.
An “employment site” under the bill is the principal physical place
where the laid-off employee performed the predominance of his or her
duties before being laid off. But for a laid-off employee in construction,
transportation, building services, or other industries where work is
performed at locations other than the employer’s administrative
headquarters, it is any location served by the headquarters. An
employee’s “length of service” is the total amount of time that the
employee was in active service, including the employee’s time on leave
or vacation. 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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Job Offers. The bill requires that a job offer to a laid-off employee
be in the same classification or job title at substantially the same
employment site (which may be relocated within 25 miles), and with
substantially the same duties, compensation (including fringe
benefits), and working conditions that the employee had immediately
before March 10, 2020. (It is unclear how this requirement could apply
to a former senior employee (e.g., a manager) who, under the bill, must
be offered a position for which he or she could qualify with the same
training as a new employee (e.g., a cashier).)
Under the bill, an employer must give a laid-off employee who is
offered a position at least 10 days to accept or decline the offer. (The
bill does not specify what happens if the employee does not respond
within 10 days.) If the employee declines due to his or her age, or due
to his or her underlying health conditions (or those of a family member
or other person living in his or her household), the employee retains
the right to accept the position and all other rights under the bill until
the current COVID-19 public health and civil preparedness
emergencies, and any extensions of them, expire and the laid-off
employee is reoffered the position. The bill requires that a rehired
employee be allowed to work for at least 30 days unless there is just
cause for their termination.
Hiring Another Person. If an employer does not rehire a laid-off
employee due to a lack of qualifications and instead hires someone
else, the bill requires the employer to give the laid-off employee a
written notice within 30 days after hiring the other person. The notice
must identify the other person, the reasons for the decision, and all
demographic data the employer has about the other person and the
laid-off employee who was not rehired.
Application of Bill Provisions. The bill specifies that its provisions
apply if:
1. the employer’s owner changed after the laid-off employee was
laid off, but the enterprise continues to conduct the same or
similar operations as it did before March 10, 2020; 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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2. the employer’s form of organization changed after March 10,
2020;
3. another entity acquired substantially all of the employer’s
assets, and conducts the same or similar operations using
substantially the same assets; or
4. the employer relocates the operations where the laid-off
employee worked before March 10, 2020, to a different
employment site within 25 miles of the original employment
site.
Collective Bargaining Agreements. The bill also requires that its
provisions apply to each laid-off employee, regardless of whether he
or she is represented for collective bargaining or covered by a
collective bargaining agreement. But it specifies that it (1) is not a
violation for an employer to follow a recall order of preference
required by a collective bargaining agreement that is different from the
order of preference required by the bill and (2) does not invalidate or
limit the rights, remedies, and procedures of any contract or agreement
that provides equal or greater protection for laid-off employees.
The bill also allows its provisions to be waived in a bona fide
collective bargaining agreement, but only if the waiver is explicitly set
forth in the agreement in clear and unambiguous terms. It specifies
that unilateral implementation of terms and conditions of employment
by either party to an agreement does not constitute and must not be
allowed as a waiver.
Employee Protections and Enforcement
The bill prohibits employers from terminating, refusing to
reemploy, reducing compensation, or taking any adverse action
against anyone seeking to enforce his or her rights under the bill or for
(1) participating in proceedings related to the bill; (2) opposing a
violation of it; or (3) otherwise asserting their rights under it. It
requires an employer that does so to give the laid-off employee a
detailed written statement of the reason why when it takes these 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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prohibited actions. The statement must include all the facts
substantiating the employer’s reason or reasons for taking the
prohibited action, along with all facts known to the employer that
contradict the substantiating facts.
The bill allows a laid-off employee aggrieved by a violation to bring
a lawsuit in Superior Court. He or she may also designate an agent or
representative to maintain the action on his or her behalf. If the court
finds that the employer violated the bill, it may enjoin the employer
from engaging in the violation and order appropriate affirmative
action (e.g., reinstatement or rehiring, back pay, and benefits) and any
other relief it deems appropriate.
If a court orders back pay, the bill requires that the laid-off
employee’s interim earnings or amounts earnable with reasonable
diligence be deducted from the back pay. However, any reasonable
amounts that the laid-off employee spent searching for, obtaining, or
relocating to new employment must be deducted from the interim
earnings before their deduction from the back pay.
Under the bill, the court may also order (1) compensatory and
punitive damages if it finds that the employer committed the violation
with malice or with reckless indifference to the bill’s requirements and
(2) treble damages if it finds that the employer terminated the laid-off
employee in violation of the bill. It also requires courts to award
attorney’s fees and costs to a laid-off employee who prevails in a civil
action.
§ 8 — PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT STOCKPILES
Requires the DPH commissioner to procure PPE to create two stockpiles; establishes
priorities for stockpile use during a public health emergency
The bill requires the DPH commissioner, within six months after the
current COVID-19 public health and civil preparedness emergencies
end or the bill passes, whichever is later, to award a contract or
contracts for procuring personal protective equipment (PPE) to create
two stockpiles. The commissioner must do this in consultation with the
Department of Administrative Services (DAS) and the state Division of 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS).
Under the bill, “PPE” is clothing or equipment worn by an
employee for protection against infectious disease and materials, such
as protective equipment for the eyes, face, head, and extremities;
protective clothing; and protective shields and barriers.
The bill allows the commissioner to make awards to multiple
bidders. It requires her, to the maximum extent feasible, to pay for the
PPE with federal public health emergency funds. Each stockpile must
be gradually filled to a capacity determined by the commissioner, but
at least one-third of the stockpile’s capacity must be filled each year
until capacity is met. If PPE from the stockpile is used, it must be
refilled in a similar manner.
Under the bill, one stockpile must consist of PPE approved for use
by a federal agency and one stockpile must consist of PPE approved by
DPH, in consultation with DAS and DEMHS. To the maximum extent
feasible, 50% of the PPE in each stockpile must be made in Connecticut
and 30% of the PPE must be made in the United States.
Stockpile Use
The bill requires the DPH commissioner, during a declared public
health emergency, to make the stockpiled PPE available for free to
state agencies; political subdivisions (e.g., municipalities); nursing
homes; hospitals; nonprofit organizations; and public schools. If, after
doing so, the commissioner determines that there is an excess supply
of PPE, she must offer to sell it to other private entities at fair market
value. The commissioner must establish orders of priority for the
entities that may access the state's PPE stockpiles.
Expiring PPE
When any stockpiled PPE is within one year of expiring, the bill
requires the commissioner to offer to sell it at no more than fair market
value to, in this order: private nursing homes in the state, federally
qualified healthcare centers in the state, hospitals, nonprofit hospitals
and entities that provide direct medical care in the state, public school 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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districts in the state, and private schools and nonpublic charter schools
in the state. To the extent feasible, expired PPE must be disposed of in
an environmentally sound way.
Annual Report
The bill requires DEMHS, in consultation with DPH and DAS, to
submit an annual report on the status of the stockpiles to the governor
and legislature. The reports must include data on the price the state
paid for the PPE and any PPE the state sold. They must be available to
the public on the division’s web site.
§ 9 — PPE EVALUATION, DIST RIBUTION, AND APPROV AL
PROCESS
Requires DEMHS to establish a process to evaluate, distribute, and approve PPE for use
during public health emergencies
The bill requires DEMHS, in consultation with DPH, to establish a
process to evaluate, distribute, and approve PPE for use during public
health emergencies. The process must (1) be designed to help the
production of PPE by businesses that do not otherwise produce it and
are not federally-approved to do so, (2) prioritize businesses that
manufacture PPE in Connecticut, and (3) require DAS to help review
the businesses to ensure they are legitimate and do not have any
unresolved safety or health citations.
§ 10 — PPE REQUIREMENTS FOR HEALTHCARE AND LONG -
TERM CARE PROVIDERS
Requires health care providers and long-term care providers to maintain enough new PPE
for 90 days of surge consumption during a state of emergency; allows for exemptions and
DPH waivers under certain circumstances
Starting January 1, 2023, or one year after DPH adopts regulations
(see below), whichever is later, the bill requires each covered provider
(i.e., a health care provider or long-term care provider) to maintain an
unexpired inventory of new PPE sufficient for 90 days of surge
consumption during a declared state of emergency or local emergency
for a pandemic or other health emergency, as determined by the DPH
commissioner. Each covered provider must provide an inventory of its
PPE to DPH upon request. The bill subjects violators to a $25,000 civil
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exempts them as allowed under the bill (see below).
The bill requires the covered provider that controls or owns a
facility to maintain the required PPE even if another covered provider
provides services in the facility. It also requires a covered provider to
(1) supply PPE to its health care workers and long-term care workers
and (2) require that they use it.
Covered Providers
Under the bill a “health care provider” is any person, corporation,
limited liability company, facility, or institution operated, owned, or
licensed by the state to provide health care or professional services. It
includes their officers, employees, or agents acting in the course and
scope of their employment. But it does not include an independent
medical practice that one or more licensed physicians own and
operate, or maintain as a clinic or office, to practice their profession
within the scope of their license, unless it is operated or maintained
exclusively as part of an integrated health system or health facility.
A “long-term care provider” is home health care agency, home
health aide agency, behavioral health facility, alcohol or drug
treatment facility, assisted living services agency, or nursing home.
Waivers and Exemptions
The bill allows a covered provider to apply to DPH, in writing, for
a waiver of some or all of the above PPE inventory requirements. DPH
may approve it if the covered provider has 25 or fewer employees and
agrees to close in-person operations during a public health emergency
in which DPH recommends increased use of PPE. The provider cannot
return to in-person operations until sufficient PPE becomes available to
the provider.
The bill also allows DPH to exempt a covered provider from the
civil penalty if supply chain limitations make meeting the required
supply level infeasible, and the covered provider (1) made a
reasonable attempt to obtain PPE, as determined by DPH, or (2) shows
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beyond its control (e.g., the provider ordered PPE but the order was
not fulfilled or the PPE was damaged in transit or stolen).
The bill exempts a covered provider from the civil penalty if its PPE
inventory falls below the required supply level because it distributed
PPE to its health care workers or long-term care workers, or to another
covered provider’s workers, during a state of emergency declared by
the governor or a declared local emergency for a pandemic or other
health emergency. But the covered provider must replenish its
inventory to the required level within 30 days after the inventory falls
below the required level, if DPH determines that there is no supply
limitation.
DPH Regulations
The bill requires DPH to adopt regulations to carry out these
provisions. The regulations must also establish requirements for 90
days of surge consumption during a state of emergency, including the
types and amount of PPE that a covered provider must maintain based
on the (1) type and size of each covered provider and (2) composition
of health care workers and long-term care workers in its workforce.
The regulations cannot establish policies or standards that are less
protective or prescriptive than any federal, state, or local law on PPE
standards.
§ 11 — HOSPITAL AND NURSING HOME DATA
Requires hospitals and nursing homes to collect and post certain data related to their
COVID-19 cases
The bill requires each acute care hospital and nursing home to
collect data on COVID-19 in a form set by the DPH commissioner.
They must do so (1) daily during the current COVID-19 public health
and civil preparedness emergencies and then (2) monthly after they
expire. The data must be based on nationally recognized and
recommended standards and include:
1. current inpatient data on COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and
deaths;
2. the number of employees exposed to COVID-19 and exhibiting 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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its symptoms who were tested for it;
3. the number of asymptomatic employees tested for COVID-19;
4. the number of COVID-19 vaccines administered;
5. census data on beds and ventilators; and
6. a PPE inventory, including the quantity in possession and the
utilization rate.
The bill requires each hospital and nursing home to post the data to
its internet website each day during the current COVID-19 public
health and civil preparedness emergencies and then quarterly after
they expire.
§§ 12-19 & 32 — PANDEMIC PAY
Establishes a grant program and requires employers to apply for grants that they must use
to provide additional pandemic pay to their essential employees ($5 per hour) and
specialized risk employees ($10 per hour.) for their hours worked mitigating or responding
to the COVID-19 emergency between March 20, 2020, and April 30, 2021
Grant Program (§ 13)
The bill establishes the Essential Employees Pandemic Pay Grant
Program within the Department of Social Services (DSS) to administer
and award grants to employers whose covered employees were
engaged in activities substantially dedicated to mitigating or
responding to the COVID-19 public health and civil preparedness
emergencies between March 20, 2020, and April 30, 2021. It requires
that at least 15% of unrestricted funds received by the state from
January 1, 2021, to July 1, 2021, for COVID-19 relief be appropriated to
fund grants under the program.
The bill requires employers that employed covered employees to
apply to DSS for a grant in an amount sufficient to make the required
pandemic pay payments to their covered employees (see below). They
must do so by July 1, 2021, or within 60 days after the program is
available, whichever is later. DSS must issue the grants within 30 days
after the applications are due. If the amount appropriated to the
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prorate the grant amounts.
Covered Employees & Employers (§ 12)
Under the bill, “covered employees” are (1) “essential employees”
and (2) “specialized risk employees.”
“Essential employees” are those employed in a category that the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices, as of February 20, 2021,
recommended to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in phase 1b of the
COVID-19 vaccination program. (These include firefighters, police
officers, corrections officers, food and agricultural workers, U.S. Postal
Service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public
transit workers, education sector workers, and child care workers.)
“Specialized risk employees” are (1) anyone employed in a
category that the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices, as of February 20, 2021, recommend to receive a COVID-19
vaccination in phase 1a of the COVD-19 vaccination program (i.e.,
health care personnel); (2) first responders; (3) employees required to
work in congregate settings or with persons infected with COVID-19;
and (4) people who provide personal care assistance (PCAs) under a
state-funded program, such as the Connecticut Home Care Program
for Elders.
“First responders” are peace officers (e.g., police officers),
firefighters, people employed as firefighters by a private employer,
ambulance drivers, emergency medical responders, emergency
medical technicians, advanced emergency medical technicians or
paramedics, and telecommunicators (i.e., 9 -1-1 emergency
dispatchers).
“Employers” covered by the bill are employers of a covered
employee. It includes the consumers who receive services from a
personal care attendant under a state-funded program (see § 16
below). (The bill does not specify this, but presumably employers
include the state and its political subdivisions.) 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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Pandemic Pay (§ 14)
The bill requires each employer that receives a pandemic pay grant
to pay each of its covered employees additional compensation for each
hour they worked between March 20, 2020, and April 30, 2021. The
additional pandemic pay must be $5 per hour for essential employees
and $10 per hour for specialized risk employees, or a prorated amount
if the employer received a grant smaller than the one it applied for.
The bill also prohibits employers from denying pandemic pay based
on the quality or type of work the covered employee performed.
The bill requires employers to provide pandemic pay as a lump sum
payment in a covered employee’s first regularly scheduled wage
payment after the employer receives the grant. If the employer cannot
do this, the pandemic pay must be paid as soon as practicable, but no
later than the employee’s second regularly scheduled wage payment.
If a covered employee entitled to pandemic pay dies before receiving
it, the bill requires the employer to pay it to the employee’s next of kin
as a lump sum payment.
Pay Stubs. Under the bill, the pandemic pay must be clearly
demarcated as a separate line item in a paystub or other document
provided to a covered employee that details the employee’s pay for the
pay period. If the employee does not regularly receive a pay stub or
this documentation from the employer, the employer must provide it
while the employee is receiving pandemic pay.
The bill requires pandemic pay to be excluded from a covered
employee’s pay when (1) calculating eligibility for wage-based benefits
offered by the employer or (2) computing the employee’s regular rate
for minimum wage, overtime pay, or any other wage -based
employment standard or benefit.
Prohibited Acts. The bill prohibits employers who receive grants
from reducing or in any way diminishing a covered employee’s
compensation from March 20, 2020, to June 30, 2021, from the level
paid to the employee on the day before the bill passes. It also prohibits
employers from taking any action to displace a covered employee by 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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reducing hours, wages, or employment benefits or hiring someone for
an equivalent position paid at a lower rate than what was paid to the
employee on the day before the bill passes.
PCAs and Consumers (§ 16)
For the consumers who employ state-funded PCAs, the bill requires
the fiscal intermediaries (who pay the PCAs on behalf of the
consumers) to meet the pandemic pay requirements and makes them
solely responsible for the applicable penalties that would otherwise
apply to the PCA’s consumer. It allows DSS and the Department of
Developmental Services to apply to the grant program for the funds
that are reasonably required to compensate fiscal intermediaries for
complying with the bill’s pandemic pay provisions.
Enforcement (§§ 15, 17-19 & 32)
Failure to Apply for Grant or Pay Pandemic Pay. The bill subjects
an employer who fails to apply for a grant, or who receives a grant but
fails to make pandemic pay payments, to the statutory penalties for
unpaid wages if it is an intentional violation (§§ 15 & 17). These laws
impose penalties that depend on the amount of unpaid wages owed to
an employee as follows:
1. for up to $500 in unpaid wages: a $200 - $500 fine, up to three
months in prison, or both;
2. for $500 - $1,000 in unpaid wages: a $500 - $1,000 fine, up to six
months in prison, or both;
3. For $1,000 - $2,000 in unpaid wages: a $1,000 - $2,000 fine, up to
one year in prison, or both; and
4. for more than $2,000 in unpaid wages: a $2,000 - $5,000 fine and
a class D felony (§ 17).
The bill also allows an employee to bring a lawsuit against an
employer who fails to apply for a grant or who receives a grant but
fails to make pandemic pay payments (§§ 15 & 32). An employee who
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owed unless the employer establishes a good faith belief that the
underpayment complied with the law; in which case, the employee
must recover the full amount of pandemic pay owed.
Retaliatory Actions. The bill subjects an employer who takes any
action against an employee for invoking his or her right to pandemic
pay to the $100 statutory fine for discharging or discriminating against
the employee for testifying in a wage investigation or proceeding, and
an additional $300 penalty the Department of Labor (DOL) may
impose for general violations of the labor law (§§ 18 & 19).
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage, except the conforming changes
related to imposing fines for unpaid wages or retaliating against an
employee are effective October 1, 2021.
§§ 20-25 — COVID-19 SICK LEAVE
Requires private-sector employers to provide their employees with up to 80 hours of
additional COVID-19 paid sick leave that they can use for certain purposes related to
COVID-19
Leave Requirement (§§ 20 & 21(a)-(b))
The bill requires all private-sector employers to provide their
employees with additional COVID-19 sick leave that they can use for
certain purposes related to COVID-19. They must provide at least 80
hours of this leave to employees who normally work 40 hours per
week. Employees who work less than that must receive COVID-19 sick
time that equals the amount of time they are scheduled to work or that
they work on average over a two-week period, whichever is greater.
Employees exempt from federal law’s overtime pay requirements must
be assumed to work 40 hours per week for leave accrual purposes,
unless their normal work week is less than 40 hours. If it is, then their
leave accrual must be based on their normal work week.
To calculate leave amounts for employees who work variable
schedules of less than 40 hours per week, the bill requires employers to
use the employee’s average weekly hours over the six months
preceding the leave, including any leave hours that the employee took
during that period. If the employee did not work over that period, the
average must be the employee’s reasonable expectation, at the time of 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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hire, of the average number of hours per week that he or she would be
regularly scheduled to work.
The bill requires that the leave be available to employees
immediately and retroactively to March 10, 2020, regardless of how
long they have been employed, and remain available until four weeks
after the governor’s emergency declarations (presumably over COVID-
19) expire.
“Employers” who must provide COVID -19 sick leave are any
person, firm, business, educational institution, nonprofit organization,
corporation, limited liability company or other entity. This includes the
state’s Personal Care Attendant Workforce Council, which under the
bill is the employer of people who provide personal care assistance
(PCAs) under a state-funded program, such as the Connecticut Home
Care Program for Elders. It does not include the federal government.
“Employees” eligible for COVID-19 sick leave under the bill are
those engaged in service to an employer in the employer’s business.
Reasons for Leave (§§ 20 & 21(c)-(d))
Under the bill, employees may use the COVID-19 sick leave when
they are unable to work, including through telework, because they:
1. need to (a) self-isolate and care for themselves due to a COVID-
19 diagnosis or symptoms; (b) seek COVID-19 preventive care;
or (c) seek or obtain a diagnosis, care, or treatment for COVID-
19 symptoms;
2. need to comply with an order or determination to self-isolate
because of their possible exposure to COVID-19 or have
COVID-19 symptoms, regardless of whether they were
diagnosed with COVID-19, and their physical presence on the
job or in the community would jeopardize their health or that of
other employees or someone in the employee’s household (i.e., a
quarantine order);
3. need to care for a family member who is (a) self-isolating or 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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seeking preventive care, diagnosis, or treatment or (b) self-
isolating due to a COVID-19 quarantine order;
4. were prohibited from working by their employer due to health
concerns related to potential COVID-19 transmission;
5. are subject to an individual or general local, state, or federal
quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19;
6. need to care for a child or other family member whose care
provider is unavailable due to COVID-19 or whose school or
place of care has been closed by a local, state, or federal public
official due to COVID-19 (including schools that are (a)
physically closed but providing virtual learning, (b) requiring or
allowing virtual learning, or (c) requiring or allowing a hybrid
of in-person and virtual learning); or
7. have a health condition that may increase susceptibility to or
risk of COVID-19, including age, heart disease, asthma, lung
disease, diabetes, kidney disease, or a weakened immune
system.
If the employee needs the leave to self-isolate due to a quarantine
order, or to care for a family member who must self-isolate due to a
quarantine order, the order must be from a local, state, or federal
public official, a health authority with jurisdiction, or the employer of
the employee or employee’s family member. But it does not have to be
specific to the employee or family member.
Under the bill, a “family member” for whom an employee may take
COVID-19 sick leave is (1) the employee’s spouse, child, parent,
grandparent, grandchild, or sibling, whether related to the employee
by blood, marriage, adoption or foster care, or (2) an individual related
to the employee by blood or affinity whose close association with the
employee is the equivalent of those family relationships. A “parent” is
a biological parent, foster parent, adoptive parent, stepparent, parent-
in-law of the employee, legal guardian of an employee or an
employee’s spouse, an individual standing in loco parentis (i.e., in 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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place of a parent) to an employee, or an individual who stood in loco
parentis to the employee when the employee was a minor child.
COVID-19 Sick Leave Pay (§ 21(e))
The bill requires that an employee’s pay for COVID-19 sick leave be
the greater of the employee’s normal hourly wage or the minimum
wage. If an employee’s hourly wage varies, the “normal hourly wage”
is the employee’s average hourly wage over the pay period prior to the
one in which the employee uses the leave.
Employee Notice & Documentation (§ 21(f)-(g))
The bill requires an employee to give the employer advance notice
about the need for COVID-19 sick leave as soon as practicable, but
only if the need for leave is foreseeable and the employer’s place of
business has not been closed. It prohibits an employer from requiring
an employee to provide documentation for COVID-19 sick leave.
Transfers & Successor Employers (§ 21(h))
The bill requires that employees maintain their accrued COVID-19
sick leave when (1) they transfer to a separate division, entity, or
location with the same employer or (2) when a different employer
succeeds or replaces an existing employer.
Employee Replacements (§ 21(i))
The bill prohibits employers from requiring that an employee search
for or find a replacement worker to cover the hours during which the
employee is using COVID-19 sick leave.
Other Benefits and Collective Bargaining Agreements (§ 22)
The bill specifies that its COVID-19 sick leave provisions do not (1)
discourage or prohibit an employer from adopting or retaining a more
generous COVID-19 sick leave, paid sick leave, or other paid leave
policy; (2) diminish any rights provided to an employee under a
collective bargaining agreement; or (3) prohibit an employer from
establishing a policy that allows employees to donate unused COVID-
19 sick leave to other employees. 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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It also allows an employee to use the COVID-19 sick leave before
using the paid sick leave provided by current law, as amended by the
bill. And it prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to use
other paid leave before using the COVID-19 leave.
Enforcement (§ 23)
The bill makes it illegal for an employer or anyone else to interfere
with, restrain, or deny someone using or trying to use the bill’s
COVID-19 sick leave rights. It prohibits employers from taking
retaliatory personnel actions or discriminating against an employee
because the employee (1) requests or uses COVID-19 sick leave or (2)
files a complaint with the labor commissioner alleging the employer’s
violation. Under the bill, a “retaliatory personnel action” is a
termination, suspension, constructive discharge, de motion,
unfavorable reassignment, refusal to promote, reduction of hours,
disciplinary action, or other adverse employment action taken by an
employer against an employee.
Complaints & Lawsuits. The bill allows an employee aggrieved by
a violation of the bill’s COVID-19 sick leave provisions to file a
complaint with the labor commissioner. Upon receiving the complaint,
the commissioner may hold a hearing. If he finds the employer in
violation by a preponderance of the evidence, the bill imposes the
same civil penalty allowed under the paid sick day law (up to $500)
and allows the commissioner to award the employee appropriate relief
(e.g., pay for used sick leave, rehiring). A party aggrieved by the
commissioner’s decision may appeal to the Superior Court.
The bill requires the labor commissioner to advise an employee who
files a complaint and is covered by a collective bargaining agreement
that provides for COVID-19 sick leave about the employee’s right to
pursue a grievance with his or her collective bargaining agent.
The bill also allows anyone aggrieved by a violation of the bill’s
COVID-19 sick leave provisions, the labor commissioner, or the
attorney general to bring a civil action in court without first filing an
administrative complaint. 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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The bill requires the labor commissioner to administer these
enforcement provisions within available appropriations.
Employer Notice & Records Requirements (§ 24)
Employer Notice. The bill requires employers to provide written
notice to each employee (1) about the entitlement to COVID-19 sick
leave, the amount of leave provided, and the terms under which it can
be used; (2) that retaliatory personnel actions are prohibited; and (3)
about the right to file a complaint with the labor commissioner or file a
civil action. They must provide this notice within 14 days after the bill
takes effect or at the employee’s time of hiring, whichever is later.
The bill also requires employers to display a poster that contains the
same information in both English and Spanish. If the employer does
not maintain a physical workplace, or an employee teleworks or
performs work through a web-based or app-based platform, the
notification must be sent via electronic communication or a
conspicuous posting in the web-based or app-based platform. The bill
requires the labor commissioner to provide the posters and model
written notices to all employers.
Additionally, the bill requires employers to include in employee pay
stubs the number of hours, if any, of COVID-19 sick leave received and
used by each employee in the calendar year.
Employer Records Requirements. The bill requires employers to
retain records documenting the hours worked and COVID-19 sick
leave taken by employees for three years. (The bill does not specify
when this three-year period begins.) The employers must allow the
labor commissioner to access them, with appropriate notice and at a
mutually agreeable time, to monitor compliance. For issues about an
employee’s entitlement to COVID-19 sick leave, if the employer does
not maintain or retain adequate records, or does not allow reasonable
access to them, the bill requires that it be presumed that the employer
violated these recordkeeping requirements unless there is clear and
convincing evidence otherwise. 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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DOL. The bill allows the labor commissioner to develop and
implement a multilingual outreach program to inform employees,
parents, and people under a health care provider’s care about the
availability of COVID-19 sick leave. The program may include notices
and written materials in English and other languages.
It also requires the labor commissioner to promulgate appropriate
guidelines or regulations to coordinate implementation and
enforcement of the bill’s COVID-19 sick leave provisions.
It requires the labor commissioner to administer these provisions on
DOL’s and the bill’s employer notice and records requirements within
available appropriations.
Disclosure of Health Information (§ 25)
Unless otherwise required by law, the bill prohibits an employer
from requiring disclosure of the details of an employee’s or an
employee’s family member’s health information as a condition for
providing COVID-19 sick leave. If an employer possesses this health
information, it must be treated as confidential and not disclosed except
to the employee or with the employee’s permission.
§§ 26-27 — UNEMPLOYMENT TAX EXP ERIENCE RATES
Disregards benefit charges and taxable wages between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2021,
when calculating an employer’s experience rate; similarly disregards benefits and taxable
wages for 2020 and 2021 when calculating the unemployment tax rate for new employers
The bill disregards an employer’s benefit charges and taxable wages
between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2021, when calculating the
employer’s unemployment tax experience rate for taxable years
starting on or after January 1, 2022. In effect, this means that the
unemployment benefits paid to an employer’s former employees
during that period will not affect the employer’s experience rate. The
bill’s provisions apply to the extent allowed by federal law and as
necessary to respond to the spread of COVID-19.
The bill similarly disregards the statewide benefits and taxable
wages for calendar years 2020 and 2021 when calculating the
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starting on or after January 1, 2022 (see BACKGROUND). Thus, the
rate charged to employers who have not participated in the system
long enough to have their own experience rates will not be affected by
the benefits paid during those years.
Experience Rates
By law, an employer’s experience rate generally depends on the
amount of unemployment benefits its former employees received
during its “experience period,” which is the three-year period
preceding each June 30 when an employer’s rate is calculated. Under
current law, an employer’s rate is determined by calculating the ratio
between the amount charged to the employer’s experience account
(generally, the amount of benefits paid to its former employees) and
the amount of the employer’s taxable wages during the experience
period. This ratio is converted to a percentage between 0.5% and 5.4%,
which becomes the employer’s experience rate (CGS § 31-225a(e)).
For tax years starting on or after January 1, 2022, the bill requires
that an employer’s experience period disregard the employer’s benefit
charges and taxable wages from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2021,
when applicable. Thus, an employer’s experience rate would not be
affected by the chargeable benefits paid to its employees during that
period.
New Employer Rates
By law, employers that have not been chargeable with benefits for a
long enough time to have their own experience rate calculated must
pay 1% or the state's five-year benefit cost rate, whichever is higher.
Under current law, the state’s five-year benefit cost rate is determined
by dividing the total benefits paid to claimants over the previous five
years by the five-year payroll over that period.
For tax years starting on or after January 1, 2022, the bill requires
that the five-year benefit cost rate be calculated without the benefit
payments and taxable wages for calendar years 2020 and 2021, when
applicable. Thus, the statewide benefits paid during those years will
not affect the rate charged to the new employers. 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2021
§ 28 — UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT ROUND-UP
Requires that an unemployment claimant’s benefits be rounded up to the extent needed for
the claimant to qualify for a program that provides 100% federally funded benefits for
unemployment related to COVID-19
The bill codifies Executive Order 9P (2020). Therefore, it:
1. increases weekly unemployment benefits to $100 for claimants
who (1) were eligible for less than $100 in weekly benefits
during the weeks beginning July 26, 2020, and ending on
September 5, 2020, and (2) had not exhausted their regular state
unemployment benefits by July 26, 2020, and
2. allows claimants who receive this benefit increase to apply to
the federally-funded Lost Wages Assistance program, which
temporarily increases weekly benefits by $300 (to be eligible,
claimants must be receiving at least $100 in weekly regular
unemployment benefits).
The bill also requires that a claimant’s benefits be similarly rounded
up if an additional federal program is enacted to provide 100%
federally-funded benefits for unemployment caused by or related to
COVID-19 or the current COVID -19 public health and civil
preparedness emergencies. If the new program requires claimants to
have a minimum weekly regular unemployment benefit in order to
qualify, the bill requires that the benefits of claimants who do not meet
that minimum be increased so that they can be eligible for the new
program, as long as they have not exhausted their state regular
unemployment benefits.
For both benefit “round-up” provisions, the bill (1) requires that
reimbursing employers not be charged for the amount of increased
benefits paid to their former employees (reimbursing employers
directly reimburse the unemployment trust fund for benefits paid to
their former employees) and (2) allows the labor commissioner to issue
implementing orders. 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
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§ 29 — FELONY UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT FRAUD
Increases, from $500 to $2,000, the financial threshold used to determine whether
someone's unemployment compensation fraud is a misdemeanor or a felony
The bill increases, from $500 to $2,000, the financial threshold used
to determine whether someone’s unemployment compensation fraud
is a misdemeanor or a felony. Under current law, someone who
knowingly makes a false statement or fails to disclose a material fact to
obtain or maintain unemployment benefits is guilty of a (1) class A
misdemeanor if the fraud amounts to $500 or less or (2) class D felony
if the amount is more than $500. The bill increases this threshold to
$2,000.
§ 30 — PROJECT LABOR AGREEME NTS
Requires state agencies to consider using PLAs when they contract for a public works
project worth at least $10 million; requires contractors bidding on those contracts to be
prequalified by DAS
The bill requires each contracting authority acting under the
prevailing wage laws to consider using a project labor agreement
(PLA), under the law for using PLAs on public works projects, for state
contracts worth at least $10 million. The PLA law allows a public entity
to require a PLA for any public works project if it determines that it is
in the public’s interest to require one.
The bill requires that each contractor who bids on a state public
works contract worth at least $10 million (1) be prequalified by DAS to
perform the work required under the contract (current law allows, but
does not require, contractors to seek DAS prequalification); (2) be
enrolled in an apprenticeship program; and (3) if awarded the contract,
to complete the required work using its own employees (presumably,
this means the contractor cannot subcontract for any of the work). The
bill also specifies that the contractor must pay its employees at least the
applicable prevailing wages (however, this would already be required
by the prevailing wage law).
§ 31 — NOTICE OF HOSPITAL NURSING STAFF LEVELS
Requires hospitals to post certain information about their nursing staff levels and hours
The bill requires acute care and children’s hospitals to calculate for 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
Researcher: LRH Page 34 4/15/21
each nursing unit, on a per shift basis, the total number of nurses and
nurse’s aides providing direct patient care to patients in the hospital.
Under the bill, “nurses” include licensed advanced practice registered
nurses (APRNs), registered nurses (RNs), and licensed practical nurses
(LPNs).
The bill requires that each hospital post in each nursing unit (i.e.,
floor or unit), at the beginning of each shift, a clear and conspicuous
notice with: (1) the name of the hospital; (2) the date; (3) the total
number of APRNs, RNs, LPNs, and nurse ’s aides who will be
responsible for direct patient care during the shift; (4) the total hours
that each of them is scheduled to work during the shift; and (5) the
total number of patients in the nursing unit.
Each hospital must also post, at the beginning of each shift, a clear
and conspicuous notice with (1) the hospital’s staffing matrix for the
nursing unit and (2) the phone number or Internet website for
someone to report a suspected violation of a requirement relating to
staffing levels and direct patient care.
Under the bill, both of the above notices must be readily accessible
and clearly visible to patients, employees, and hospital visitors,
including people in wheelchairs. In addition, the hospitals must make
all of the posted information available to the public for review upon
request, and they must retain the information for at least 18 months
after it was posted.
Lastly, the bill prohibits hospitals from discharging or
discriminating or retaliating against an employee for reporting a
hospital’s suspected violation of a regulatory requirement relating to
staffing levels. It makes a hospital that violates this prohibition liable
for treble damages and requires the hospital to reinstate the employee
if the employee was terminated from employment. Under the bill,
discriminating or retaliating against an employee includes the
discharge, demotion, suspension, or any other detrimental change in
terms or conditions of employment, or the threat of any of these
actions. 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
Researcher: LRH Page 35 4/15/21
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2021
BACKGROUND
Unemployment Tax Rate
By law employers pay state unemployment insurance (UI) taxes to
support the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund, which provides UI
benefits to eligible claimants. An employer’s state UI tax liability
typically depends on three factors: (1) its experience rate, (2) the fund
balance rate (a tax rate tied to the financial solvency of the state’s
unemployment trust fund), and (3) its taxable wage base (the amount
of wages it paid that are subject to state UI taxes). Generally, the sum
of the first two rates, which can range from 0.5% to 6.8%, applies
against the first $15,000 of each employee’s wages (the taxable wage
base) (CGS § 31-225a).
Related Bills
sSB 658, reported favorably by the Labor and Public Employees
Committee, is identical to § 7 in this bill.
SB 660, reported favorably by the Labor and Public Employees
Committee, is identical to §§ 5 & 6 in this bill.
sSB 1030, reported favorably by the Public Health Committee,
requires, among other things, (1) DPH to maintain at least a three-
month supply of PPE for long-term care facilities and (2) the facilities’
administrative heads to ensure they acquire the supply from DPH and
maintain it for their staff.
HB 5377, reported favorably by the Labor and Public Employees
Committee, is identical to §§ 26 & 27 in this bill.
sHB 6478, reported favorably by the Labor and Public Employees
Committee, contains provisions (§§ 2-5) that are identical to §§ 1-4 in
this bill.
sHB 6537, reported favorably by the Labor and Public Employees
Committee, contains provisions (§§ 7-12) that are identical to §§ 20-25
in this bill. 2021SB-01002-R000464-BA.DOCX
Researcher: LRH Page 36 4/15/21
sHB 6595, reported favorably by the Labor and Public Employees
Committee, is identical to this bill.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 9 Nay 4 (03/25/2021)