FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, March 24, 2023

AS LABOR COMMITTEE WRAPS-UP 2023 BILL DEADLINE, SEN. KUSHNER CELEBRATES POLICY WINS FOR ALL EMPLOYEES

HARTFORD – State Senator Julie Kushner (D-Danbury) today proclaimed the 2023 legislative session for the Labor and Public Employees Committee a success, noting that 51 bills passed by the committee by the bill deadline, including several bills that will make work life fairer and more rewarding for working people in Connecticut.

Sen. Kushner, who is Senate Chair of the Labor Committee, said about a dozen of these 51 bills will be especially impactful, addressing more reliable and predicable schedules for workers, more transparent salary postings to help close the wage disparity gap between men and women, job-related cancer and workplace injuries, updating old paid sick day policies, helping warehouse workers, rideshare drivers, and waitstaff, and adjusting the pay for prison inmates to not less than five dollars per week, or as much as 35 dollars per week for highly skilled work.

“There are many diverse needs among Connecticut’s 1.6 million workers, and the Labor Committee took on legislation this session that will, for example, impact hundreds of thousands of people with an expansion of paid sick days, to smaller and more specialized impacts on groups like firefighters, construction workers and rideshare drivers. We really did a good job this year on behalf of Connecticut’s citizens,” Sen. Kushner said.

The 2023 Labor Committee bills singled-out for special mention by Sen. Kushner include:

· House Bill 6859, AN ACT CONCERNING PREDICTABLE SCHEDULING

· Senate Bill 489, AN ACT LIMITING THE DAYS AN EMPLOYER CAN MANDATE AN EMPLOYEE TO WORK.

· House Bill 6273, AN ACT CONCERNING DISCLOSURE OF SALARY RANGES ON PUBLIC AND INTERNAL JOB POSTINGS

· Senate Bill 1180, AN ACT CONCERNING RIDESHARE AND DELIVERY DRIVER MINIMUM STANDARDS

· House Bill 5033, AN ACT CONCERNING COMPENSATION OF INCARCERATED INDIVIDUALS.

· House Bill 6668, AN ACT MODERNIZING THE PAID SICK DAYS STATUTES.

· Senate Bill 21, AN ACT PROHIBITING EMPLOYERS FROM CHARGING EMPLOYEES FOR TRAINING COSTS UPON SEPARATION FROM EMPLOYMENT.

· Senate Bill 152, AN ACT CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF WAREHOUSE WORKERS.

· Senate Bill 913, AN ACT EXPANDING WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COVERAGE FOR POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS INJURIES FOR ALL EMPLOYEES.

· Senate Bill 937, AN ACT PROVIDING WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BENEFITS FOR CERTAIN CANCERS IN FIREFIGHTERS.

· Senate Bill 938, AN ACT CONCERNING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR STRIKING WORKERS.

· Senate Bill 1177, AN ACT CONCERNING ONE FAIR WAGE.

· Senate Bill 1178, AN ACT EXPANDING CONNECTICUT PAID SICK DAYS.

· Senate Bill 1125, AN ACT CONCERNING APPRENTICESHIP REPORTING DATA.

· House Bill 6862, AN ACT CONCERNING BROADBAND CONSTRUCTION AND THE PREVAILING WAGE

The various bills now head to the floor of the House and Senate for further consideration. The 2023 legislative session concludes on Wednesday, June 8.

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