Bill Text: CT HB06877 | 2015 | General Assembly | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning A Minimum Work Week For Persons Performing Janitorial Work.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-05-06 - Tabled for the Calendar, House [HB06877 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2015-HB06877-Comm_Sub.html

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General Assembly		Substitute Bill No. 6877
January Session, 2015		*_____HB06877HED___050615____*

AN ACT CONCERNING A MINIMUM WORK WEEK FOR PERSONS PERFORMING JANITORIAL WORK.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2015) (a) For purposes of this section:

(1) "Covered employee" means any person employed by a covered employer to perform janitorial work in or about a covered location. Covered employee does not include (A) any person providing janitorial work in or about a covered location solely on Saturday or Sunday or both, or (B) any person with a disability, as defined in section 4a-82 of the general statutes;

(2) "Covered employer" means any person, firm, business, educational institution, nonprofit agency, corporation, limited liability company or other entity, including the state or any political subdivision thereof, that (A) (i) directly employs at least one individual who performs janitorial work, or (ii) contracts or subcontracts for the services of at least one individual who performs janitorial work, and (B) owns or operates a covered location;

(3) "Covered leave" means any paid or unpaid temporary leave voluntarily taken by a covered employee pursuant to (A) any applicable state or federal law, (B) any written employee handbook, or (C) written request initiated by the covered employee;

(4) "Covered location" means (A) a covered office location having an area of not less than one hundred thousand square feet, (B) a multifamily dwelling consisting of fifty or more units and containing one or more elevators, (C) a private or public institution of higher education, or (D) a museum, as defined in section 11-80 of the general statutes;

(5) "Covered office location" means (A) an office building, (B) a continuous, commonly owned office park, or (C) a group of office buildings that (i) have common ownership or management, and (ii) are contiguous or have consecutive addresses;

(6) "Janitorial work" means work performed in connection with the care or maintenance of buildings, including, but not limited to, work customarily performed by cleaners, porters, janitors and handypersons;

(7) "Minimum work week" means the minimum number of compensated hours provided to a covered employee in any work week, except for weeks in which the covered employee is taking covered leave; and

(8) "Work week" means a fixed, regularly recurring period of one hundred sixty-eight hours or seven consecutive twenty-four-hour periods.

(b) On and after January 1, 2016, the minimum work week for a covered employee performing janitorial work for a covered employer in or about a covered location shall be thirty hours per work week.

(c) Each covered employer shall provide notice to each covered employee (1) of the entitlement to a minimum work week, and (2) that the covered employee has a right to file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner for any violation of this section. Covered employers may comply with the provisions of this section by displaying a poster in a conspicuous place, accessible to covered employees, at the covered location and the covered employer's place of business that contains the information required by this section in both English and Spanish. The Labor Commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54 of the general statutes, to establish additional requirements concerning the means by which covered employers shall provide such notice.

(d) Any covered employee aggrieved by a violation of the provisions of subsection (b) or (c) of this section may file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner. Upon receipt of any such complaint, said commissioner may hold a hearing. After the hearing, any covered employer who is found by the Labor Commissioner, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have violated the provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall be liable to the Labor Department for a civil penalty of up to five hundred dollars for the first violation and up to one thousand dollars for any subsequent violation. Any covered employer who is found by the Labor Commissioner, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have violated the provisions of subsection (c) of this section shall be liable to the Labor Department for a civil penalty of up to one hundred dollars for each day that such covered employer fails to post notice, provided such penalty shall not exceed five hundred dollars. The Labor Commissioner may award the covered employee all appropriate relief, including payment of back wages. Any party aggrieved by the decision of the commissioner may appeal the decision to the Superior Court in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes.

(e) The Labor Commissioner shall administer this section within available appropriations.

(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to (1) prevent any covered employer from providing any covered employee with weekly work hours in excess of thirty hours per work week, (2) diminish any rights provided to any covered employee under the terms of the covered employee's employment or a collective bargaining agreement, or (3) preempt or override the terms of any collective bargaining agreement effective prior to October 1, 2015.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	October 1, 2015	New section

LAB	Joint Favorable Subst.
HED	Joint Favorable