Legal Updates

Paid Family And Medical Leave Is Coming To Connecticut

Recently, Connecticut joined a number of other states, including California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington (as well as Washington, D.C.), by enacting a paid family and medical leave program for employees.

This past June, Governor Ned Lamont signed legislation creating an insurance program to provide wage replacement benefits to employees taking leave for reasons covered by Connecticut’s Family and Medical Leave Act (“CTFMLA”), which was enacted in 1990 and, up to now, has provided only for unpaid leave.

Under the new legislation, entitled “An Act Concerning Paid Family and Medical Leave” (the “Act”), paid leave will be available to most Connecticut employees beginning January 1, 2022, without regard to the number of employees an organization employs, or the number of hours worked by an employee. Employees will begin contributing to the program through mandatory payroll deductions as of January 1, 2021.

Current Law

In its current form, the CTFMLA requires most Connecticut employers with at least 75 employees – but excluding private and parochial elementary and secondary schools – to provide eligible employees with up to sixteen weeks of unpaid leave during any 24-month period for:
 

• The birth of the employee’s child;

• The placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care;

• Caring for a spouse, child, or parent of the employee who has a serious health condition;

• The employee’s own serious health condition; or

• The employee’s donation of an organ or bone marrow.

To be eligible for such leave, an employee must have been employed by his or her employer for at least twelve months and have worked a total of at least 1,000 hours.

Highlights Of The New Legislation

The Act expands the existing CTFMLA in a number of important respects:

Employer Coverage.

While the Act continues to exclude private and parochial schools from coverage, the 75-employee threshold no longer applies. Indeed, employers with as few as one employee will fall under the amended statute.

Under the text of the statute, it appears that an employee working in Connecticut may be eligible for leave even if the employer does not have an office or other physical presence in the state (e.g., remote workers). This is not completely clear, however, and employers that may be affected would be wise to wait for guidance on this issue, such as the upcoming regulations alluded to below.

Employee Eligibility.

Employees will be eligible for paid leave if they have worked for their employer for at least three months, with no minimum hours requirement. Further, leave may be taken to care for any blood relative (as opposed to only the specific relatives spelled out in the current CTFMLA), as well as a non-relative who bears a close association to the employee equivalent to a family relationship.

Self-employed individuals and sole proprietors may also voluntarily enroll in the program.

Benefits Available.

Beginning January 1, 2022, eligible employees may take up to twelve weeks of paid leave for any covered purposes during any twelve-month period. Eligible employees who are incapacitated due to pregnancy will be eligible for an additional two weeks of paid leave, for a maximum of fourteen weeks.

Weekly benefit amounts will be determined based on an employee’s income, up to a maximum of $900 per week.

Funding Of Benefits.

The program will be funded through employee contributions to a newly created Family and Medical Leave Insurance Trust Fund (the “Fund”). Employees will be required to contribute 0.5% of their income to the Fund through a mandatory payroll tax, beginning January 1, 2021. (Employers are not required to contribute directly to the Fund.)

Notice/Documentation.

The new statute also imposes notice and documentation requirements on both employers and employees.
Specifically, employees will be required to notify the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Authority (the “Authority”) of their need for benefits. Upon request by the Authority, employers must confirm employees’ current compensation levels and need for leave.

Beginning July 1, 2022, employers must provide written notice to each employee, both at the time of hire and annually thereafter, of the following:
 

• The employee’s leave rights under the CTFMLA;

• The right to file a benefits claim under the program;

• The prohibition of retaliation by an employer against an employee for applying for or using leave under the program; and

• The right to file a complaint with the Connecticut Labor Commission to seek redress for any violation.

Regulations.

Finally, the Act directs the Labor Commission to adopt regulations to implement these new statutory mandates by January 1, 2020.

Recommendations For Employers

Although employees will not be eligible to take paid leave under the Act until 2022, Connecticut employers should review the statute carefully, in consultation with employment counsel, and begin preparing to comply with it.

In particular, employers should ensure (i) that they are prepared to begin withholding and remitting the required payroll tax beginning January 1, 2021, and (ii) that their human resources, payroll, benefits, tax, and accounting personnel are fully educated about the new law so that they can answer any questions from employees and keep their organization in full compliance.

Employers should also be alert for the regulations (and any other updates) that are to be published by the state Labor Commission.

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If you have questions about the new Connecticut paid family and medical leave statute or your organization’s responsibilities under it, please feel free to contact one of our experienced employment lawyers.