“Our current paid sick days laws include important protections for some workers, however there are broad categories of workers who are left unprotected,” Governor Ned Lamont said in a statement regarding legislation he proposed to strengthen the state’s sick day statutes.
“If there’s anything we have learned from the recent outbreak of a viral pandemic, it’s that illness can spread quickly, and workers are sometimes left in a situation in which they have to choose between going to the workplace sick and risk spreading that illness to their coworkers and clients, or sacrificing a day’s wage and be unable to support themselves and their families. This proposal will modernize our paid sick days statutes and acknowledge the evolving landscape of work in a post-pandemic world.”
The proposal put forward by the governor would require all employers to provide paid sick days, removing the current exemption for those with fewer than 50 employees. It would also let parents and domestic partners qualify as immediate family members who can be cared for during a sick day, bar employers from making sick days conditional on finding a substitute, and allow for the use of sick days during declared public health emergencies.
At the same time the proposal is meant to clarify that employers have the right to request documentation when an employee uses three or more consecutive sick days and to take disciplinary action if sick days have been misused.
The governor’s proposal is laid out in Senate Bill 12, “An Act Modernizing the Paid Sick Days Statutes,” and is awaiting further legislative action.
