Connecticut General Statutes
Chapter 814c - Human Rights and Opportunities
Section 46a-60. (Formerly Sec. 31-126). - Discriminatory employment practices prohibited.

(a) As used in this section:

(1) “Pregnancy” means pregnancy, childbirth or a related condition, including, but not limited to, lactation;
(2) “Reasonable accommodation” means, but is not limited to, being permitted to sit while working, more frequent or longer breaks, periodic rest, assistance with manual labor, job restructuring, light duty assignments, modified work schedules, temporary transfers to less strenuous or hazardous work, time off to recover from childbirth or break time and appropriate facilities for expressing breast milk; and
(3) “Undue hardship” means an action requiring significant difficulty or expense when considered in light of factors such as (A) the nature and cost of the accommodation; (B) the overall financial resources of the employer; (C) the overall size of the business of the employer with respect to the number of employees, and the number, type and location of its facilities; and (D) the effect on expenses and resources or the impact otherwise of such accommodation upon the operation of the employer.
(b) It shall be a discriminatory practice in violation of this section:
(1) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, except in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification or need, to refuse to hire or employ or to bar or to discharge from employment any individual or to discriminate against any individual in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of the individual's race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability, physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or status as a veteran;
(2) For any employment agency, except in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification or need, to fail or refuse to classify properly or refer for employment or otherwise to discriminate against any individual because of such individual's race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability, physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or status as a veteran;
(3) For a labor organization, because of the race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability, physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or status as a veteran of any individual to exclude from full membership rights or to expel from its membership such individual or to discriminate in any way against any of its members or against any employer or any individual employed by an employer, unless such action is based on a bona fide occupational qualification;
(4) For any person, employer, labor organization or employment agency to discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person because such person has opposed any discriminatory employment practice or because such person has filed a complaint or testified or assisted in any proceeding under section 46a-82, 46a-83 or 46a-84;
(5) For any person, whether an employer or an employee or not, to aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any act declared to be a discriminatory employment practice or to attempt to do so;
(6) For any person, employer, employment agency or labor organization, except in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification or need, to advertise employment opportunities in such a manner as to restrict such employment so as to discriminate against individuals because of their race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability, physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or status as a veteran;
(7) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent: (A) To terminate a woman's employment because of her pregnancy; (B) to refuse to grant to that employee a reasonable leave of absence for disability resulting from her pregnancy; (C) to deny to that employee, who is disabled as a result of pregnancy, any compensation to which she is entitled as a result of the accumulation of disability or leave benefits accrued pursuant to plans maintained by the employer; (D) to fail or refuse to reinstate the employee to her original job or to an equivalent position with equivalent pay and accumulated seniority, retirement, fringe benefits and other service credits upon her signifying her intent to return unless, in the case of a private employer, the employer's circumstances have so changed as to make it impossible or unreasonable to do so; (E) to limit, segregate or classify the employee in a way that would deprive her of employment opportunities due to her pregnancy; (F) to discriminate against an employee or person seeking employment on the basis of her pregnancy in the terms or conditions of her employment; (G) to fail or refuse to make a reasonable accommodation for an employee or person seeking employment due to her pregnancy, unless the employer can demonstrate that such accommodation would impose an undue hardship on such employer; (H) to deny employment opportunities to an employee or person seeking employment if such denial is due to the employee's request for a reasonable accommodation due to her pregnancy; (I) to force an employee or person seeking employment affected by pregnancy to accept a reasonable accommodation if such employee or person seeking employment (i) does not have a known limitation related to her pregnancy, or (ii) does not require a reasonable accommodation to perform the essential duties related to her employment; (J) to require an employee to take a leave of absence if a reasonable accommodation can be provided in lieu of such leave; and (K) to retaliate against an employee in the terms, conditions or privileges of her employment based upon such employee's request for a reasonable accommodation;
(8) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization, by itself or its agent, to harass any employee, person seeking employment or member on the basis of sex or gender identity or expression. If an employer takes immediate corrective action in response to an employee's claim of sexual harassment, such corrective action shall not modify the conditions of employment of the employee making the claim of sexual harassment unless such employee agrees, in writing, to any modification in the conditions of employment. “Corrective action” taken by an employer, includes, but is not limited to, employee relocation, assigning an employee to a different work schedule or other substantive changes to an employee's terms and conditions of employment. Notwithstanding an employer's failure to obtain a written agreement from an employee concerning a modification in the conditions of employment, the commission may find that corrective action taken by an employer was reasonable and not of detriment to the complainant based on the evidence presented to the commission by the complainant and respondent. As used in this subdivision, “sexual harassment” means any unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors or any conduct of a sexual nature when (A) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, (B) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (C) such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment;
(9) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization, by itself or its agent, to request or require information from an employee, person seeking employment or member relating to the individual's child-bearing age or plans, pregnancy, function of the individual's reproductive system, use of birth control methods, or the individual's familial responsibilities, unless such information is directly related to a bona fide occupational qualification or need, provided an employer, through a physician may request from an employee any such information which is directly related to workplace exposure to substances which may cause birth defects or constitute a hazard to an individual's reproductive system or to a fetus if the employer first informs the employee of the hazards involved in exposure to such substances;
(10) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, after informing an employee, pursuant to subdivision (9) of this subsection, of a workplace exposure to substances which may cause birth defects or constitute a hazard to an employee's reproductive system or to a fetus, to fail or refuse, upon the employee's request, to take reasonable measures to protect the employee from the exposure or hazard identified, or to fail or refuse to inform the employee that the measures taken may be the subject of a complaint filed under the provisions of this chapter. Nothing in this subdivision is intended to prohibit an employer from taking reasonable measures to protect an employee from exposure to such substances. For the purpose of this subdivision, “reasonable measures” shall be those measures which are consistent with business necessity and are least disruptive of the terms and conditions of the employee's employment;
(11) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an employment agency, by itself or its agent, or for any labor organization, by itself or its agent: (A) To request or require genetic information from an employee, person seeking employment or member, or (B) to discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person on the basis of genetic information. For the purpose of this subdivision, “genetic information” means the information about genes, gene products or inherited characteristics that may derive from an individual or a family member;
(12) For an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, to request or require a prospective employee's age, date of birth, dates of attendance at or date of graduation from an educational institution on an initial employment application, provided the provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to any employer requesting or requiring such information (A) based on a bona fide occupational qualification or need, or (B) when such information is required to comply with any provision of state or federal law.
(c) (1) The provisions of this section concerning age shall not apply to: (A) The termination of employment of any person with a contract of unlimited tenure at an independent institution of higher education who is mandatorily retired, on or before July 1, 1993, after having attained the age of seventy; (B) the termination of employment of any person who has attained the age of sixty-five and who, for the two years immediately preceding such termination, is employed in a bona fide executive or a high policy-making position, if such person is entitled to an immediate nonforfeitable annual retirement benefit under a pension, profit-sharing, savings or deferred compensation plan, or any combination of such plans, from such person's employer, which equals, in aggregate, at least forty-four thousand dollars; (C) the termination of employment of persons in occupations, including police work and fire-fighting, in which age is a bona fide occupational qualification; (D) the operation of any bona fide apprenticeship system or plan; or (E) the observance of the terms of a bona fide seniority system or any bona fide employee benefit plan for retirement, pensions or insurance which is not adopted for the purpose of evading said provisions, except that no such plan may excuse the failure to hire any individual and no such system or plan may require or permit the termination of employment on the basis of age. No such plan which covers less than twenty employees may reduce the group hospital, surgical or medical insurance coverage provided under the plan to any employee who has reached the age of sixty-five and is eligible for Medicare benefits or any employee's spouse who has reached age sixty-five and is eligible for Medicare benefits except to the extent such coverage is provided by Medicare. The terms of any such plan which covers twenty or more employees shall entitle any employee who has attained the age of sixty-five and any employee's spouse who has attained the age of sixty-five to group hospital, surgical or medical insurance coverage under the same conditions as any covered employee or spouse who is under the age of sixty-five.
(2) No employee retirement or pension plan may exclude any employee from membership in such plan or cease or reduce the employee's benefit accruals or allocations under such plan on the basis of age. The provisions of this subdivision shall be applicable to plan years beginning on or after January 1, 1988, except that for any collectively bargained plan this subdivision shall be applicable on the earlier of (A) January 1, 1990, or (B) the later of (i) the expiration date of the collective bargaining agreement, or (ii) January 1, 1988.
(3) The provisions of this section concerning age shall not prohibit an employer from requiring medical examinations for employees for the purpose of determining such employees' physical qualification for continued employment.
(4) Any employee who continues employment beyond the normal retirement age in the applicable retirement or pension plan shall give notice of intent to retire, in writing, to such employee's employer not less than thirty days prior to the date of such retirement.
(d) (1) An employer shall provide written notice of the right to be free from discrimination in relation to pregnancy, childbirth and related conditions, including the right to a reasonable accommodation to the known limitations related to pregnancy pursuant to subdivision (7) of subsection (b) of this section to: (A) New employees at the commencement of employment; (B) existing employees within one hundred twenty days after the effective date of this section; and (C) any employee who notifies the employer of her pregnancy within ten days of such notification. An employer may comply with the provisions of this section by displaying a poster in a conspicuous place, accessible to employees, at the 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, to establish additional requirements concerning the means by which employers shall provide such notice.
(2) The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities shall develop courses of instruction and conduct ongoing public education efforts as necessary to inform employers, employees, employment agencies and persons seeking employment about their rights and responsibilities under this section.
(1949 Rev., S. 7405; 1955, S. 3035d; 1959, P.A. 145, S. 3; 1963, P.A. 261; 1967, P.A. 426, S. 2; P.A. 73-279, S. 14; 73-647; P.A. 75-350, S. 2; 75-446, S. 2; P.A. 78-148, S. 10; 78-350, S. 1, 6; P.A. 79-152; 79-303; 79-304, S. 1; 79-480, S. 1; P.A. 80-285; 80-422, S. 9; P.A. 81-382, S. 2; P.A. 82-196, S. 1; P.A. 86-381; P.A. 88-303, S. 3, 6; P.A. 89-147, S. 1, 3; P.A. 90-88, S. 3; 90-330, S. 3, 11; P.A. 98-180; P.A. 01-28, S. 8; P.A. 11-55, S. 24; 11-129, S. 20; P.A. 17-118, S. 1; 17-127, S. 4; P.A. 19-16, S. 4; 19-93, S. 8; P.A. 21-69, S. 1.)
History: 1959 act specified that discrimination based on age is unfair employment practice in Subdivs. (a), (b), (c) and (f), added exception re bona fide occupational qualification or need in Subdiv. (f) and added provision specifying when provisions of section are not applicable; 1963 act limited provision specifying when section does not apply to provisions “as to age”; 1967 act specified that discrimination based on sex is unfair employment practice in Subdivs. (a), (b), (c) and (f); P.A. 73-279 made discrimination based on physical disability including blindness an unfair employment practice in Subdivs. (a), (b), (c) and (f); P.A. 73-647 added Subdiv. (g) re termination of employment because of pregnancy as unfair employment practice; P.A. 75-350 added proviso in Subdiv. (1) of provision specifying when section does not apply re new employees' inclusion in existing retirement or pension plans and collective bargaining agreements; P.A. 75-446 made discrimination because of marital status an unfair employment practice in Subdivs. (a), (b), (c) and (f); P.A. 78-148 made discrimination because of mental retardation an unfair employment practice in Subdivs. (a), (b), (c) and (f); P.A. 78-350 revised previous provision specifying inapplicability of section to delete inapplicability re termination of employment where employee is entitled to benefits under retirement or pension plan or collective bargaining agreement and re operation of terms of retirement or pension plan or group or employee insurance plan, inserting new provisions as Subdivs. (1) to (3); P.A. 79-152 divided section into Subsecs., replacing alphabetic Subdiv. indicators with numeric indicators accordingly and adding provision in Subsec. (a)(7), formerly Subdiv. (g), re transfer of pregnant employee to temporary position; P.A. 79-303 revised Subsec. (b)(1) to include retirement or pension plans for employees of higher education institution, and, in conjunction with P.A. 79-304, expanded Subsec. (b)(2) re age and level of position and added Subdiv. (b)(5); P.A. 79-480 specified discrimination based on present or past history of mental disorder as unfair employment practice in Subsec. (a); P.A. 80-285 added Subsec. (a)(8) re sexual harassment; P.A. 80-422 rephrased provisions, substituted “discriminatory” for “unfair” employment practices and added Subdivs. (2) to (4) in Subsec. (b); Sec. 31-126 transferred to Sec. 46a-60 in 1981; P.A. 81-382 added Subdivs. (9) and (10) as discriminatory practices; P.A. 82-196 amended Subsec. (b) to limit the allowable reduction in employee benefit plan insurance coverage provided to any employee who has reached the age of 65 to the amount of such coverage available under Medicare; P.A. 86-381 amended Subdiv. (1) of Subsec. (b)(1) to increase from $27,000 to $44,000 the threshold amount of annual retirement benefits receivable by certain employees which permit the termination of their employment; P.A. 88-303 amended Subsec. (b)(1) by deleting provisions re inapplicability of section to a person who has reached the age of 70 and is entitled to benefits under a pension or retirement plan for state or municipal employees or for certain teachers; inserting a provision specifying that the section is applicable to certain teachers at independent institutions of higher education who are mandatorily retired on or before December 31, 1993, after reaching age 70, removing the provision to limit the allowable reduction in employee benefit plan insurance coverage provided to any employee who has reached the age of 65 to the amount of such coverage available under Medicare; providing that the terms of health insurance plans must entitle all employees to coverage under the same conditions regardless of age; rewriting Subdiv. (2) to prohibit age-based pension plan provisions and substituting “normal retirement age in the applicable retirement or pension plan” for “date on which he becomes eligible for the maximum possible retirement benefit available to him” in Subdiv. (4); P.A. 89-147 substituted July 1, 1993, for December 1, 1993, in Subpara. (A) of Subdiv. (1) of Subsec. (b) as the date before which certain persons may be mandatorily retired after reaching age 70 and to which the section does not apply; P.A. 90-88 amended Subsec. (b)(1) to allow for the provision of reduced coverage for Medicare eligible employees of employers with less than 20 employees; P.A. 90-330 amended Subsec. (a) to include persons with learning disabilities; (Revisor's note: In 1995 the indicators (1), (2) and (3) in Subsec. (a)(8) were changed editorially by the Revisors to (A), (B) and (C) respectively for consistency with statutory usage); P.A. 98-180 added Subsec. (a)(11) making discrimination based on genetic information a discriminatory practice; P.A. 01-28 made technical changes for the purpose of gender neutrality in Subsecs. (a) and (b) and amended Subsec. (a) by changing “mental disorder” to “mental disability”; P.A. 11-55 amended Subsec. (a) to prohibit in Subdivs. (1), (2), (3) and (6) discrimination because of an individual's gender identity or expression and prohibit in Subdiv. (8) harassment on the basis of an individual's gender identity or expression; pursuant to P.A. 11-129, “mental retardation” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “intellectual disability” in Subsec. (a); P.A. 17-118 added new Subsec. (a) re definitions, redesignated existing Subsecs. (a) and (b) as Subsecs. (b) and (c), amended redesignated Subsec. (b) to delete former Subpara. (E) re transfer of pregnant employee to suitable temporary position, delete former Subpara. (F) re informing pregnant employee re appeal of transfer, delete former Subpara. (G) re informing employees re giving notice of pregnancy, add new Subpara. (E) re limiting, segregating or classifying employee due to pregnancy, add new Subpara. (F) re discriminating against employee on basis of pregnancy, add new Subpara. (G) re reasonable accommodation due to pregnancy, and add Subparas. (H) to (K) re reasonable accommodation in Subdiv. (7), replace “section” with “subdivision” re definition of “sexual harassment” in Subdiv. (8), and added Subsec. (d) re employer to provide written notice to employees re discrimination related to pregnancy and childbirth and commission to develop courses of instruction and conduct public education; P.A. 17-127 amended Subsec. (a) to add “status as a veteran”, and make technical changes; P.A. 19-16 amended Subsec. (b)(8) by adding provisions re employer's corrective action, defining “corrective action”, deleting reference to this subdivision in definition of sexual harassment, and making technical changes; P.A. 19-93 amended Subsec. (b)(8) to add provision allowing commission to find that corrective action taken by employer was reasonable based on evidence presented despite employer's failure to obtain a written agreement from employee concerning modifications in the conditions of employment; P.A. 21-69 amended Subsecs. (a)(2) and (b)(1) to make technical changes and added Subsec. (b)(12) re prohibition on requesting prospective employee's age, date of birth, dates of attendance or graduation from educational institution on initial application.

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