Governor Lamont just announced a Stay Safe/Stay at Home policy for the state of Connecticut. He is ordering that non-essential services remain closed for now. Exemptions will be made for major construction projects already underway as well as for major manufacturers, especially in the defense industry. Restaurants can remain open for takeout. Services such as auto repair and hardware […]
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act is now law. With millions of Americans forced out of the workplace, the legislation provides some relief for employees through the form of expanded Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) and paid sick leave. President Trump signed the bill last night. The Department of Labor announced that the legislation will go […]
Many employers in Connecticut have significantly reduced operations or have shut down entirely at this point. Affected employees, and even independent contractors, may now be eligible for Unemployment benefits. According to Governor Lamont, 10,000 people applied for Unemployment on March 16, 2020, alone. This level of claims activity in such a short period of time appears to be […]
On Monday, March 16, the House proposed new legislation that would make significant changes to the emergency legislation proposed only a few days ago. Again, this is only a first step in the legislative process, but demonstrates the extreme challenges facing employees as the landscape continues to shift on a daily, sometimes, hourly basis. Legislators […]
We received many questions from clients over the weekend about the emergency bill addressing FMLA and paid sick leave passed by the House on Saturday, March 14. While the Senate has not yet taken up the measure, emergency measures in some form are expected to pass the Senate later this week and employers should be […]
Connecticut employers with employees who work or even who simply reside in Massachusetts must abide by Massachusetts’ onerous new non-compete law. Under the new law, a provision in a non-compete providing for the application of another state’s (such as Connecticut’s) law is not enforceable if the employee is, and has been, a resident of or employed in Massachusetts […]
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that government workers who choose not to join a union cannot be charged for the cost of collective bargaining and related activities. In a 5-to-4 decision, a majority of the Court noted in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, that “agency fees” violate, “the free speech rights of nonmembers by compelling them to subsidize private speech on […]
Buried in the nearly 900 page document which is the biennial budget legislation are two sentences that impose a new requirement on boards of education. Specifically, Section 157 of Public Act 17-2 from the June Special Session provides: Sec. 157. (NEW)(Effective from passage) Any local board of education shall file forthwith a signed copy of […]
Typically this time of year school district administrators ponder whether to “non-renew” non-tenured teachers in response to budget uncertainty, as opposed to waiting for the fiscal picture to become clear and possibly laying off teachers at a later time. Given the state budget crisis, and unprecedented major cuts in funding on the table, the uncertainty […]
Over the past few weeks, there have been several cyberattacks on Connecticut municipalities and boards of education. On the municipal side, internet thieves have intercepted wire transfer instructions in two Connecticut municipalities resulting in the theft of significant sums. Most recently, an outside party accessed a Superintendent’s email and requested W-2 information for the school […]
