General Assembly |
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January Session, 2015 |
LCO No. 4139 | ||
*04139HB05080LAB* | |||
Referred to Committee on LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES |
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Introduced by: |
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(LAB) |
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AN ACT CONCERNING LARGE RETAIL STORES AND EMPLOYMENT OF WORKERS DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON.
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) "Employee" shall have the same meaning as "employee", as defined in section 31-58 of the general statutes;
(2) "Employer" means any owner or any person, partnership, corporation, limited liability company or association of persons acting directly as, or on behalf of, or in the interest of an employer in relation to not less than five employees, including the state and any political subdivision thereof;
(3) "Family holiday" means Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day; and
(4) "Retail business" means any for-profit or not-for-profit business having a fixed, permanent location comprising five thousand or more square feet the principal activity of which is exhibiting or offering for sale goods, wares or merchandise on a continuous basis.
(b) Each employer operating a retail business shall (1) allow each employee who works for such retail business the opportunity to decline to work on any family holiday without penalty, or (2) compensate each employee who works for such retail business on a family holiday by (A) paying the employee at a rate not less than two and one-half times the regular rate, as described in section 31-76b of the general statutes, at which he or she is employed for the duration of time the employee works for such retail business on the family holiday, or (B) (i) paying the employee at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate, as described in section 31-76b of the general statutes, at which he or she is employed for the duration of time the employee works for such retail business on the family holiday, and (ii) granting such employee future paid leave at a rate not less than the regular rate, as described in section 31-76b of the general statutes, at which he or she is employed for the duration of time the employee worked for such retail business on the family holiday.
(c) Any employee aggrieved by a violation of the provisions of this section may file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner. Upon receipt of any such complaint, the commissioner may hold a hearing. After the hearing, any employer who is found by the commissioner, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have violated the provisions of this section shall be liable to the Labor Department for a civil penalty of up to one hundred dollars for each violation. The commissioner may award the employee all appropriate relief, including the payment of back wages, to which the employee otherwise would have been eligible. 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.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: | ||
Section 1 |
October 1, 2015 |
New section |
Statement of Purpose:
To require certain employers to either allow their employees to decline to work on family holidays without penalty or to provide such employees with enhanced pay on such holidays.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]