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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 420
February Session, 2022
AN ACT CONCERNING THE STATE WORKFORCE AND
DISCRIMINATION AND RETALIATION IN THE WORKPLACE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective January 1, 2023) As used in this section and 1
section 2 of this act: 2
(1) "Manager" means any managerial employee as defined in section 3
5-270 of the general statutes; 4
(2) "Covered employee" means any employee, as defined in section 5-5
270 of the general statutes, other than a manager; 6
(3) "State employer" means any employer as defined in section 5-270 7
of the general statutes; and 8
(4) "Discrimination" means any adverse action with respect to any 9
employee taken in whole or in part due to the race, color, religious creed, 10
sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, national origin, 11
ancestry, status as a veteran, intellectual disability, mental disability, 12
learning disability or physical disability. 13
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective January 1, 2023) (a) Each state employer shall 14
adopt a zero-tolerance policy for using managerial authority for 15
discrimination or retaliation against those who complain of 16
discrimination. Such policy shall: (1) Specifically forbid any manager 17 Substitute Bill No. 420
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from retaliating or discriminating against an employee who complains 18
of discrimination; (2) include performance and other sanctions against 19
managers who dissuade or seek to dissuade employees from filing such 20
complaints; and (3) include performance and other sanctions against 21
managerial authorities who fail to objectively and fully investigate such 22
complaints consistent with identified procedures following an incident, 23
including, but not limited to, notifications to the complainant regarding 24
the status and outcome of the complaint investigation. 25
(b) Each state employer shall ensure that it is safe for employees to 26
formally or informally raise any complaint concerning the use of 27
managerial authority in violation of the provisions of subsection (a) of 28
this section. No state employer shall take or threaten to take any 29
personnel action, or otherwise discriminate against, any employee 30
because such employee has formally or informally raised such 31
complaint. 32
(c) Any state employer who takes any action against a covered 33
employee in violation of this section shall be deemed to have committed 34
a discriminatory employment practice, as defined in section 46a-60 of 35
the general statutes, and to be in violation of section 31-51m of the 36
general statutes. Any employee who brings any action under any of 37
these sections may recover, in addition to all other damages available 38
under such section, treble damages for any employment losses. 39
(d) Discharge or other termination of any employee in violation of 40
this section shall be conclusively presumed to create irreparable harm 41
for purposes of any temporary or permanent injunction action that may 42
be brought to redress such violation, and it shall be irrebuttably 43
presumed that there is not adequate remedy at law. The doctrine of 44
exhaustion of administrative remedies shall not apply in any action to 45
redress a discharge or other termination of employment. Any required 46
initial notice for any action under this section shall include the 47
Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and the 48
commission may intervene as a matter of right in any such proceeding. 49 Substitute Bill No. 420
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Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective January 1, 2023) (a) There is established an 50
Office of the Racial Justice Ombudsperson that shall: (1) Establish 51
common working definitions for all key terms and descriptors to lay the 52
foundation for the work; (2) institute a diverse slate initiative that 53
requires Black or African American and Hispanic or Latinx not simply 54
be among those considered, but prioritized for interviews for roles or 55
positions using an external or internal hiring or promotional process 56
that would require the hiring manager, or entity, to screen and interview 57
all candidates using a standard antiracist screening and interview 58
protocol that scores applicant answers; (3) create a structure or 59
mechanism for the delivery of antiracism and bias trainings to all state 60
employees, managers, state vendors and consultants; (4) track 61
participation in such trainings in a manner that facilitates 62
disaggregation of the data by position or title, length of state service and 63
demographic profile; (5) design a culture and climate survey to assess 64
the physical, racial, linguistic and cultural safety of all persons in an 65
agency, and the extent to which each person feels valued and believes 66
the agency's policies and practices are equitable and just; (6) submit a 67
theory of action and plan for making constant progress towards 68
eliminating systemic racism in state government, and implementing 69
strategies and structures to maintain a workplace that (A) affords 70
physical, racial, linguistic and cultural safety, and (B) privileges the 71
ability of all employees to challenge racism and aggressions; (7) assure 72
that all employees get a full and fair hearing of grievances, without fear 73
of retaliation, and ensure fair and racially just outcomes; (8) foster a 74
workplace where managerial authorities are accountable to lead and 75
model antiracist practices and make changes needed to ensure an 76
antiracist, equitable workplace for all; (9) track and review the 77
performance review process and protocols, as well as performance 78
reviews, to identify discrepancies between white workers and black and 79
brown workers in terms of education, time in position, job education 80
provided, opportunities for professional development and growth to 81
immediately create remediation plans to address racial disparities; (10) 82
analyze and recommend solutions to hiring, training and promotion 83
practices which have resulted in ten thousand-dollar-pay differentials 84 Substitute Bill No. 420
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between black and white workers; (11) focus on specific and actionable 85
steps that those with supervisory or managerial authority can 86
implement within their workplace to eliminate their unconscious or 87
conscious racial biases; and (12) review complaints and discipline 88
administered and recommend remediation plans where evidence of 89
disparate discipline, responses to complaints and manner of 90
investigation differed by employee race. 91
(b) (1) The Racial Justice Ombudsperson shall (A) be appointed by a 92
mutual agreement of the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition 93
Racial Justice Committee and the Governor, and (B) be an expert in 94
matters relating to the history, root causes, manifestations and 95
persistent effects of racism. 96
(2) The Racial Justice Ombudsperson shall report to a joint committee 97
consisting of (A) the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition Racial 98
Justice Committee, (B) the Governor, or the Governor's designee, and 99
(C) the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having 100
cognizance of matters relating to public employees. 101
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 January 1, 2023 New section
Sec. 2 January 1, 2023 New section
Sec. 3 January 1, 2023 New section
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 2(b), "assure" was changed to "ensure" for accuracy, in Section
2(c), "triple damages" was changed to "treble damages" for accuracy,
and in Section 3(a)(7), "assure" was changed to "ensure" for accuracy.
LAB Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO