Cathy Osten

Osten Joins Call for Passage of ‘Time’s Up’ Package of Sexual Harassment Laws

State Senator Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) and other members of the Senate Democratic Caucus today declared that “time’s up” on the problem of sexual harassment and sexual assault, as caucus members announced a legislative package that includes the largest overhaul in modern history of Connecticut’s sexual harassment and sexual assault laws.

“Sexual harassment not only impacts people, it impacts businesses and their output,” Sen. Osten said. “Increased training in workplaces provides a reasonable solution to combatting these abuses. The long-term impact to the individual is traumatic, creating consequences that are never-ending. The impact to a business is also costly, resulting in an environment of losses of time and output.”

The legislative package, known as the “Time’s Up Act,” reforms Connecticut’s sexual harassment and sexual assault laws and processes to create stronger protections for victims and to increase penalties for offenders by:

• reforming the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) complaint process
• strengthening and expands Connecticut’s mandated reporter laws
• eliminating statutes of limitation for all felony sexual assault crimes
• increasing financial penalties for offenders
• providing for injunctive relief and punitive damages
• eliminating secret settlements
• strengthening CHRO
• setting a universal process for investigations of harassment complaints against school administrators, and
• requiring increased training and education in Connecticut workplaces.

A proposed bill on the above matters is expected to be raised for consideration this week in the Judiciary Committee.