OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sHB-5441
AN ACT ADOPTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE TASK
FORCE TO STUDY THE STATE WORKFORCE AND RETIRING
EMPLOYEES.
AMENDMENT
LCO No.: 5506
File Copy No.: 418
House Calendar No.: 297
Primary Analyst: CP 5/3/22
Contributing Analyst(s): (NF)
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact: See Below
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The amendment strikes the underlying bill and its associated fiscal
impact.
Sections 1 and 2 require most branches and agencies of the state
government to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for using managerial
authority to discriminate or retaliate against employees who make
discrimination complaints.
The bill creates a new discriminatory practice process for state
employees, allowing them to directly file discrimination cases in court
instead of through the Commission on Human Rights and
Opportunities (CHRO). Currently, CHRO is given the right to intervene
in these cases as they are filed in court and the agency does this
frequently given it is the agency’s responsibility to enforce and
administer antidiscrimination laws. Under the bill, these discrimination
cases would go directly to court instead of to CHRO. This would result
in costs associated with monitoring and litigating these cases in court. 2022HB-05441-R00LCO05506-FNA.DOCX Page 2 of 4
In FY 21, there were 184 complaints filed against state agencies at
CHRO; 223 in FY 20; and 186 in FY 19. Assuming half of those
complaints are filed directly in court instead of at CHRO, there would
be a significant number of cases litigated in court versus cases that could
be handled through CHRO.
Additionally, under the amendment an employee can be awarded
double damages for any employment losses, and encourages the filing
of additional cases under certain circumstances. This is anticipated to
result in costs to CHRO of $75,051, plus fringe benefits of $30,418, to hire
an additional Human Rights Attorney I position to handle the
additional litigation caseload associated under the bill. It could also
result in additional costs to the state to the extent additional damages
are awarded.
Currently, CHRO receives approximately $1.1 million in annual
revenue from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) as part of CHRO’s contract with EEOC to investigate
discrimination complaints. It is expected that exempting state
employees from CHRO's process would violate the terms of this
contract, and result in a General Fund revenue loss in an amount of this
contract, approximately $1.1 million, annually.
Section 5 establishes the chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer
position to oversee a transformative hiring process in state government.
It is estimated that the annual salary for this position would be at least
$150,000. Three additional staff members may be needed to help the
chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer fulfill the bill's requirements
at total salary cost of an estimated $300,000.
Section 9 requires each state agency and the technical high school
system to fill all open positions to levels appropriated in the FY 22 – FY
23 biennial budget.
In addition, the amendment requires each agency to adopt
continuous recruitment practices to fill critical shortage positions as
appropriated in the FY 23 – FY 24 biennial budget. Further, these 2022HB-05441-R00LCO05506-FNA.DOCX Page 3 of 4
positions do not require approval from DAS or OPM in order to fill.
Continuously hiring for all vacant positions would preclude a
potentially significant savings to the state associated with turnover and
attrition. Further, the state will incur significant administrative costs
(including the hiring of additional HR Specialists), to handle
continuously hiring for all vacant positions with recruitment, screening
and reviewing applications, interviews and examinations.
Section 10. Under the current agreement between the state and
SEBAC, state employees who retire after July 1, 2022, will no longer
have a minimum annual cost of living adjustment to their pension
benefit, and those who are not covered by Medicare will have to pay a
higher health insurance premium share. This bill requires OPM to
consult with SEBAC to allow all employees to continue working
beyond July 1, 2022, without the applicable cost of living adjustment or
retiree health care changes, until one month after their replacement has
been hired, to train and transition the new employee in the position.
Depending on how many employees work past their retirement date,
this will preclude the state from realizing potentially significant
turnover savings.
Section 11 establishes a task force to study the feasibility of creating
a state employee training account that shall be administered by a joint
labor management committee. This provision has no fiscal impact as PA
17-236 prohibits transportation allowances for task force members.
Section 12 establishes an Office of Racial Justice Ombudsperson
within CHRO. While the bill does not explicitly authorize the
ombudsperson to hire staff, the Office of Racial Justice Ombudsperson
may need up to three staff members in addition to the Ombudsperson
which will result in an estimated cost of up to $440,153 in FY 23 and
$424,933 in FY 24. This consists of a total salary cost of $302,379 in FY 23
and $302,379 in FY 24, and fringe benefit cost of $122,554 in FY 23 and
$122,554 in FY 24, for an Ombudsman and three additional staff (one
Research Analyst, one Human Rights Attorney 2, and one
Administrative Assistant). This also includes a one-time cost of $15,220 2022HB-05441-R00LCO05506-FNA.DOCX Page 4 of 4
for equipment in FY 23. The Ombudsperson must report to legislative
committees which is not anticipated to have a fiscal impact.
Section 13 requires CHRO to develop antiracism and bias training
for all state employees, managers, state vendors and consultants. This
will result in costs to CHRO of $179,457 in FY 23 to hire one Human
Rights and Opportunities Attorney 1 and two Human Rights Trainees,
plus fringe benefits of $72,734, to develop this new program.
Lastly, the amendment sets various study and analysis requirements
related to, among other things, state employee retirements, retention
rates, diversity, and training and internship programs. The state will
need consultants to assist with these provisions. It is estimated that
contracting with outside consultants will result in a one-time cost of
$500,000 - $1 million.
The preceding Fiscal Impact statement is prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely
for the purposes of information, summarization and explanation and does not represent the intent of the General
Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of
informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is
consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any
specific department.