Connecticut 2022 Regular Session

Connecticut House Bill HB05443 Latest Draft

Bill / Comm Sub Version Filed 03/31/2022

                             
 
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General Assembly  Substitute Bill No. 5443  
February Session, 2022 
 
 
 
AN ACT CONCERNING DISCLOSURE OF SOCIAL SECURITY 
NUMBERS ON EMPLOYMENT APPLICATIONS.  
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General 
Assembly convened: 
 
Section 1. Subsection (b) of section 46a-60 of the 2022 supplement to 1 
the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 2 
thereof (Effective July 1, 2022): 3 
(b) It shall be a discriminatory practice in violation of this section: 4 
(1) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, except 5 
in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification or need, to refuse to 6 
hire or employ or to bar or to discharge from employment any 7 
individual or to discriminate against any individual in compensation or 8 
in terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of the 9 
individual's race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity or 10 
expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present or past 11 
history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability, 12 
physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or status as a 13 
veteran; 14 
(2) For any employment agency, except in the case of a bona fide 15 
occupational qualification or need, to fail or refuse to classify properly 16 
or refer for employment or otherwise to discriminate against any 17 
individual because of such individual's race, color, religious creed, age, 18  Substitute Bill No. 5443 
 
 
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sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, 19 
ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual 20 
disability, learning disability, physical disability, including, but not 21 
limited to, blindness or status as a veteran; 22 
(3) For a labor organization, because of the race, color, religious creed, 23 
age, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, 24 
ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual 25 
disability, learning disability, physical disability, including, but not 26 
limited to, blindness or status as a veteran of any individual to exclude 27 
from full membership rights or to expel from its membership such 28 
individual or to discriminate in any way against any of its members or 29 
against any employer or any individual employed by an employer, 30 
unless such action is based on a bona fide occupational qualification; 31 
(4) For any person, employer, labor organization or employment 32 
agency to discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person 33 
because such person has opposed any discriminatory employment 34 
practice or because such person has filed a complaint or testified or 35 
assisted in any proceeding under section 46a-82, 46a-83 or 46a-84; 36 
(5) For any person, whether an employer or an employee or not, to 37 
aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any act declared to be a 38 
discriminatory employment practice or to attempt to do so; 39 
(6) For any person, employer, employment agency or labor 40 
organization, except in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification 41 
or need, to advertise employment opportunities in such a manner as to 42 
restrict such employment so as to discriminate against individuals 43 
because of their race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity or 44 
expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present or past 45 
history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability, 46 
physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or status as a 47 
veteran; 48 
(7) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent: (A) To 49  Substitute Bill No. 5443 
 
 
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terminate a woman's employment because of her pregnancy; (B) to 50 
refuse to grant to that employee a reasonable leave of absence for 51 
disability resulting from her pregnancy; (C) to deny to that employee, 52 
who is disabled as a result of pregnancy, any compensation to which 53 
she is entitled as a result of the accumulation of disability or leave 54 
benefits accrued pursuant to plans maintained by the employer; (D) to 55 
fail or refuse to reinstate the employee to her original job or to an 56 
equivalent position with equivalent pay and accumulated seniority, 57 
retirement, fringe benefits and other service credits upon her signifying 58 
her intent to return unless, in the case of a private employer, the 59 
employer's circumstances have so changed as to make it impossible or 60 
unreasonable to do so; (E) to limit, segregate or classify the employee in 61 
a way that would deprive her of employment opportunities due to her 62 
pregnancy; (F) to discriminate against an employee or person seeking 63 
employment on the basis of her pregnancy in the terms or conditions of 64 
her employment; (G) to fail or refuse to make a reasonable 65 
accommodation for an employee or person seeking employment due to 66 
her pregnancy, unless the employer can demonstrate that such 67 
accommodation would impose an undue hardship on such employer; 68 
(H) to deny employment opportunities to an employee or person 69 
seeking employment if such denial is due to the employee's request for 70 
a reasonable accommodation due to her pregnancy; (I) to force an 71 
employee or person seeking employment affected by pregnancy to 72 
accept a reasonable accommodation if such employee or person seeking 73 
employment (i) does not have a known limitation related to her 74 
pregnancy, or (ii) does not require a reasonable accommodation to 75 
perform the essential duties related to her employment; (J) to require an 76 
employee to take a leave of absence if a reasonable accommodation can 77 
be provided in lieu of such leave; and (K) to retaliate against an 78 
employee in the terms, conditions or privileges of her employment 79 
based upon such employee's request for a reasonable accommodation; 80 
(8) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an 81 
employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization, 82 
by itself or its agent, to harass any employee, person seeking 83  Substitute Bill No. 5443 
 
 
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employment or member on the basis of sex or gender identity or 84 
expression. If an employer takes immediate corrective action in 85 
response to an employee's claim of sexual harassment, such corrective 86 
action shall not modify the conditions of employment of the employee 87 
making the claim of sexual harassment unless such employee agrees, in 88 
writing, to any modification in the conditions of employment. 89 
"Corrective action" taken by an employer, includes, but is not limited to, 90 
employee relocation, assigning an employee to a different work 91 
schedule or other substantive changes to an employee's terms and 92 
conditions of employment. Notwithstanding an employer's failure to 93 
obtain a written agreement from an employee concerning a modification 94 
in the conditions of employment, the commission may find that 95 
corrective action taken by an employer was reasonable and not of 96 
detriment to the complainant based on the evidence presented to the 97 
commission by the complainant and respondent. As used in this 98 
subdivision, "sexual harassment" means any unwelcome sexual 99 
advances or requests for sexual favors or any conduct of a sexual nature 100 
when (A) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or 101 
implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, (B) 102 
submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as 103 
the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (C) 104 
such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with 105 
an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or 106 
offensive working environment; 107 
(9) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an 108 
employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization, 109 
by itself or its agent, to request or require information from an 110 
employee, person seeking employment or member relating to the 111 
individual's child-bearing age or plans, pregnancy, function of the 112 
individual's reproductive system, use of birth control methods, or the 113 
individual's familial responsibilities, unless such information is directly 114 
related to a bona fide occupational qualification or need, provided an 115 
employer, through a physician may request from an employee any such 116 
information which is directly related to workplace exposure to 117  Substitute Bill No. 5443 
 
 
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substances which may cause birth defects or constitute a hazard to an 118 
individual's reproductive system or to a fetus if the employer first 119 
informs the employee of the hazards involved in exposure to such 120 
substances; 121 
(10) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, after 122 
informing an employee, pursuant to subdivision (9) of this subsection, 123 
of a workplace exposure to substances which may cause birth defects or 124 
constitute a hazard to an employee's reproductive system or to a fetus, 125 
to fail or refuse, upon the employee's request, to take reasonable 126 
measures to protect the employee from the exposure or hazard 127 
identified, or to fail or refuse to inform the employee that the measures 128 
taken may be the subject of a complaint filed under the provisions of 129 
this chapter. Nothing in this subdivision is intended to prohibit an 130 
employer from taking reasonable measures to protect an employee from 131 
exposure to such substances. For the purpose of this subdivision, 132 
"reasonable measures" shall be those measures which are consistent 133 
with business necessity and are least disruptive of the terms and 134 
conditions of the employee's employment; 135 
(11) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an 136 
employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization, 137 
by itself or its agent: (A) To request or require genetic information from 138 
an employee, person seeking employment or member, or (B) to 139 
discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person on the 140 
basis of genetic information. For the purpose of this subdivision, 141 
"genetic information" means the information about genes, gene 142 
products or inherited characteristics that may derive from an individual 143 
or a family member; 144 
(12) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, to 145 
request or require a prospective employee's age, date of birth, dates of 146 
attendance at or date of graduation from an educational institution or 147 
Social Security number on an initial employment application, provided 148 
the provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to any employer 149 
requesting or requiring such information (A) based on a bona fide 150  Substitute Bill No. 5443 
 
 
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occupational qualification or need, or (B) when such information is 151 
required to comply with any provision of state or federal law. 152 
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following 
sections: 
 
Section 1 July 1, 2022 46a-60(b) 
 
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:   
In Section 1(b)(12) the comma after "at" and the brackets around "or" 
were removed for clarity. 
 
 
LAB Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO