O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 24-5—sSB 222
Labor and Public Employees Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING CH ANGES TO THE PAID FA MILY AND
MEDICAL LEAVE STATUT ES
SUMMARY: This act makes various changes in the state’s paid family and
medical leave insurance (PFMLI) law, Family and Medical Leave Act (CTFMLA),
and family violence leave law. In general, the PFMLI program is an employee-
funded program that provides up to 12 weeks of partial wage replacement benefits
to employees on unpaid leave from employment under the CTFMLA (e.g., for the
birth of a child or a serious health condition) or family violence leave law (e.g., to
obtain victim services or relocate).
Among other things, the act:
1. codifies requirements for employers to register with and submit reports to
the PFMLI Authority, which administers the program;
2. sets a process for the authority to recover benefit overpayments and
penalties;
3. allows the governor to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU)
with the state’s federally recognized tribes to allow employees of the tribe
or any tribally-owned business to participate in the PFMLI program;
4. requires health care providers to display an informational poster about the
PFMLI program;
5. allows claimants to receive PFMLI benefits concurrently with benefits from
the state’s Victim Compensation Program within certain limitations;
6. broadens the state’s family violence leave law to also allow leave for sexual
assault victims; and
7. defines a “municipality” under the PFMLI law and CTFMLA.
Lastly, the PFMLI law requires the authority to annually report certain
information such as the program’s level of participation, trust fund balance, and
claimant demographics. The act changes the annual reporting date from July 1 to
September 1 (§ 5).
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2024, except that the provision changing the
annual report date is effective upon passage.
§ 2 — EMPLOYER REGISTRATION AND REPORTING REQUIREMENT
The act explicitly requires each employer subject to the PFMLI law and paying
wages to an employee to register with the PFMLI Authority and submit reports
required by the authority in a form and way it sets. (In practice, the authority had
already required employers to do this.) Under the act, employers that fail to comply
are subject to penalties the authority establishes under its general authority to
implement the PFMLI law. O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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§ 4 — ATTEMPTED FRAUD, OVERPAYMENTS, AND PENALTIES
Existing law allows the authority to seek a repayment of overpaid PFMLI
benefits from claimants who received them erroneously or before their claim was
subsequently rejected. If a claimant receives benefits due to willful
misrepresentation, the authority may also issue a penalty that equals half of the
benefits paid.
The act specifies that the authority must charge anyone who was overpaid or
assessed any PFMLI-related penalty with the amount due. It requires the person to
repay the overpayment or penalty to the authority under a payment schedule the
authority determines and subjects anyone who fails to make the required payments
to a 1% per month interest rate on the amount owed. It also allows the authority to
recover the amount and interest owed by asking the administrative services
commissioner to seek reimbursement though an income tax refund withholding.
§§ 1 & 6 — TRIBAL MOU
Existing law, unchanged by the act, requires the governor to submit any
compact between the state and an Indian tribe to the legislature for approval or
rejection (CGS § 3-6c). Regardless of this provision, the act allows the governor,
in consultation with the authority, to enter into an MOU with any federally
recognized tribe in the state to authorize employees of both the tribe and any
tribally-owned business to participate in the PFMLI program. Once they enter into
the MOU, they would be considered an employer under the PFMLI law. However,
the act also requires that their participation be governed solely by the MOU’s terms.
(Presumably, the MOU would prevail if its provisions conflict with how the law
treats an “employer.”)
§ 3 — INFORMATIONAL POSTER
The act requires the PFMLI Authority, by October 1, 2024, to develop or
approve an informational poster for “health care providers” to display. It requires
each health care provider to display the poster in a clear and conspicuous way
accessible to patients and caregivers. Providers subject to the requirement include
doctors of medicine or osteopathy; podiatrists, dentists, psychologists, optometrists,
and chiropractors; advanced practice registered nurses, nurse practitioners, nurse
midwives, and clinical social workers; and certain Christian Science practitioners.
§ 2 — BENEFITS FROM OTHER PROGRAMS
The prior PFMLI law generally prohibited claimants from receiving PFMLI
benefits concurrently with unemployment or workers’ compensation benefits, or
with benefits from any other state or federal program that provides wage
replacement. The act more specifically limits this prohibition to PFMLI claimants
concurrently receiving income replacement benefits from those programs.
The act also explicitly allows claimants to receive PFMLI benefits concurrently O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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with benefits from the victim compensation program administered by the Judicial
Department’s Office of Victim Services, as long as the total benefit the claimants
receive during their leave does not exceed their regular pay rate.
§ 8 — CT FAMILY VIOLENCE LEAVE AND SEXUA L ASSAULT VICTIMS
The state’s family violence leave law generally allows certain employees who
are family violence victims to take leave from work (and qualify for PFMLI
benefits) if they need to miss work for certain related reasons. The act broadens this
law to also cover sexual assault victims. Similar to family violence victims, it
allows an employee who is a sexual assault victim to take the leave if it is
reasonably necessary to (1) seek medical care or psychological or other counseling,
(2) obtain services from a victim services organization, (3) relocate, or (4)
participate in a civil or criminal proceeding related to or resulting from the assault.
As under existing law for family violence victims, (1) these provisions apply to
people working for employers with at least three employees and (2) the person’s
employer may limit the allowable unpaid leave to 12 days per calendar year and
request certain documentation from the employee (generally, police or court
records or a signed statement from certain sources).
Under the act, “sexual assault” includes the crimes of sexual assault in the first,
second, third, or fourth degrees; aggravated sexual assault in the first degree; and
third degree sexual assault with a firearm.
§§ 1 & 7 — MUNICIPALITIES UNDER THE PFMLI LAW AND CTFMLA
The act specifies that a “municipality” under the PFMLI law and CTFMLA is
any metropolitan district, town, consolidated town and city, consolidated town and
borough, city, borough, village, fire and sewer district, sewer district, and each
municipal organization authorized to levy and collect taxes. Neither law previously
defined a municipality under them, but municipalities are not employers covered
by CTFMLA, and they are covered under the PFMLI law only if their employees
join the program through collective bargaining.