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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6955
January Session, 2025
AN ACT CONCERNING A CONTRACTOR'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR
UNPAID WAGES ON A CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2025) (a) For the purposes of this 1
section and section 31-72 of the general statutes, as amended by this act: 2
(1) "Construction contract" means any contract entered into on or 3
after October 1, 2025, for construction, renovation or rehabilitation in the 4
state, including any improvements to real property that are associated 5
with such construction, renovation or rehabilitation, or any subcontract 6
for construction, renovation or rehabilitation between an owner and a 7
contractor, a contractor and a subcontractor or between a subcontractor 8
and another subcontractor. "Construction contract" does not include (A) 9
any public works or other contract entered into with any agency or 10
department in the state, another state or a federal agency or department, 11
or (B) a home improvement contract for (i) the construction, renovation 12
or rehabilitation of an owner-occupied residence or the property where 13
such residence is located, or (ii) the construction, renovation or 14
rehabilitation of a one-family or two-family dwelling unit or the 15
property where such dwelling unit is located, except when such contract 16
is for the construction of more than fifteen one-family or two-family 17
dwelling units at one project site; 18 Substitute Bill No. 6955
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(2) "Contractor" means any individual, firm, partnership, 19
corporation, association, company, organization or other business 20
entity, including, but not limited to, a construction manager, general or 21
prime contractor, joint venture or any combination thereof that has a 22
direct contractual relationship with an owner; 23
(3) "Employee" has the same meaning as provided in section 31-71a 24
of the general statutes; 25
(4) "Owner" has the same meaning as provided in section 42-158i of 26
the general statutes; 27
(5) "Subcontractor" means any individual, firm, partnership, 28
corporation, association, company, organization or other business entity 29
or any combination thereof that (A) does not have a direct contractual 30
relationship with an owner, and (B) (i) is a party to a construction 31
contract with a contractor, (ii) is a party to a construction contract with 32
another subcontractor that has a direct contractual relationship with a 33
contractor, or (iii) performs any portion of work at any tier within the 34
scope of a construction contract regardless of whether such 35
subcontractor has a direct contractual relationship with a contractor; 36
and 37
(6) "Wages" has the same meaning as provided in section 31-71a of 38
the general statutes. 39
(b) A contractor that enters into a construction contract shall be jointly 40
and severally liable for any unpaid wages due to an employee of a 41
subcontractor for such employee's performance of labor included within 42
the scope of the construction contract. 43
(c) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a contractor from including 44
in any construction contract between such contractor and a 45
subcontractor a provision establishing a remedy for any liability created 46
by the nonpayment of wages by a subcontractor, provided such 47
provision does not diminish the right of an employee to bring an action 48
under section 31-72 of the general statutes, as amended by this act, and 49 Substitute Bill No. 6955
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does not waive or release any liability assigned to a contractor under 50
this section. No such provision to waive or release liability assigned to 51
the contractor under this section shall be enforceable. 52
Sec. 2. Section 31-72 of the general statutes is repealed and the 53
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2025): 54
(a) When any employer fails to pay an employee wages in accordance 55
with the provisions of sections 31-71a to 31-71i, inclusive, or fails to 56
compensate an employee in accordance with section 31-76k or where an 57
employee or a labor organization representing an employee institutes 58
an action to enforce an arbitration award which requires an employer to 59
make an employee whole or to make payments to an employee welfare 60
fund, such employee or labor organization shall recover, in a civil action, 61
(1) twice the full amount of such wages, with costs and such reasonable 62
attorney's fees as may be allowed by the court, or (2) if the employer 63
establishes that the employer had a good faith belief that the 64
underpayment of wages was in compliance with law, the full amount of 65
such wages or compensation, with costs and such reasonable attorney's 66
fees as may be allowed by the court. Any agreement between an 67
employee and his or her employer for payment of wages other than as 68
specified in said sections shall be no defense to such action. The Labor 69
Commissioner may collect the full amount of any such unpaid wages, 70
payments due to an employee welfare fund or such arbitration award, 71
as well as interest calculated in accordance with the provisions of section 72
31-265 from the date the wages or payment should have been received, 73
had payment been made in a timely manner. In addition, the Labor 74
Commissioner may bring any legal action necessary to recover twice the 75
full amount of unpaid wages, payments due to an employee welfare 76
fund or arbitration award, and the employer shall be required to pay the 77
costs and such reasonable attorney's fees as may be allowed by the court. 78
The commissioner shall distribute any wages, arbitration awards or 79
payments due to an employee welfare fund collected pursuant to this 80
section to the appropriate person. 81
(b) When a subcontractor fails to pay an employee wages for labor 82 Substitute Bill No. 6955
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performed within the scope of a construction contract entered into on or 83
after October 1, 2025, the employee, or a labor organization representing 84
the employee, may bring a civil action under this section against either 85
the subcontractor, the contractor or both the subcontractor and 86
contractor. Not less than thirty days prior to bringing a civil action 87
under this section, if a contractor is a party in such action, an employee 88
shall provide notice of an alleged violation by the subcontractor to such 89
contractor. Such notice shall describe the general nature of the alleged 90
violation. No employee shall be required to provide notice pursuant to 91
this subsection if such employee has previously given notice to a 92
contractor of either the same violation or a prior violation by the same 93
subcontractor. Any notice provided to a contractor pursuant to this 94
subsection shall not limit the liability of the contractor or preclude 95
subsequent amendments of an action brought under this section to 96
encompass additional employees employed by the subcontractor. For 97
purposes of this section, "construction contract", "contractor" and 98
"subcontractor" have the same meanings as provided in section 1 of this 99
act. 100
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 New section
Sec. 2 October 1, 2025 31-72
LAB Joint Favorable Subst.