Bill Text: CT HB05568 | 2018 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: An Act Concerning Notification By Contractors To School Districts Regarding Arrests Or Criminal Investigations Of Employees And Concerning A Cause Of Action For Teachers Harmed By An Unremedied Hazardous Condition.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-04-03 - Motion Failed (JFS) [HB05568 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2018-HB05568-Introduced.html

General Assembly

 

Raised Bill No. 5568

February Session, 2018

 

LCO No. 2880

 

*02880_______JUD*

Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY

 

Introduced by:

 

(JUD)

 

AN ACT CONCERNING NOTIFICATION BY CONTRACTORS TO SCHOOL DISTRICTS REGARDING ARRESTS OR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS OF EMPLOYEES AND CONCERNING A CAUSE OF ACTION FOR TEACHERS HARMED BY AN UNREMEDIED HAZARDOUS CONDITION.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2018) (a) Any contractor (1) who contracts with a local or regional board of education, and (2) receives information that an employee of such contractor, who is in a position involving direct contact with a student in a school under such board's jurisdiction, has been arrested or is the subject of a criminal investigation for an offense described in subsection (b) of this section, shall, not later than twenty-four hours after receipt of such information, notify the superintendent of schools for such board of such employee's arrest or the investigation of such employee. Such notification shall be in writing and include the identity of such employee, and, if known by the contractor, the offense or offenses for which such employee was arrested or is being investigated and a brief description of the incident or incidents leading to the arrest or under investigation.

(b) An offense that would cause a contractor to notify the superintendent of schools pursuant to subsection (a) of this section is an offense which could involve a risk to a child, including, but not limited to, offenses involving sexual assault, child abuse, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs, or both, drugs crimes and child pornography.

Sec. 2. Section 10-236a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2018):

(a) Each board of education, the State Board of Education, the Board of Regents for Higher Education, the Board of Trustees for The University of Connecticut, and each state agency which employs any teacher, and the managing board of any public school, as defined in section 10-183b, shall protect and save harmless any member of such boards, or any teacher or other employee of such boards, from financial loss and expense, including payment of expenses reasonably incurred for medical or other service necessary as a result of an assault upon such member, teacher or other employee while such person was acting in the discharge of his or her duties within the scope of his or her employment or under the direction of such boards, state agency, department or managing board, which expenses are not paid by the individual teacher's or employee's insurance, workers' compensation or any other source not involving an expenditure by such teacher or employee.

(b) (1) If a teacher's employer was previously notified in writing of a hazardous condition that existed at the teacher's place of employment which such employer failed to remedy, and (2) such condition was later a cause of personal injury or death to the teacher, the teacher or the teacher's legal representative may file a civil action in court against the employer. Notwithstanding any provision of chapter 568, no such claim shall be barred. Any benefit that such teacher may have recovered under the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act may be deducted from such teacher's recovery in the civil action. The court may also award punitive damages, attorney fees and costs to such teacher.

[(b)] (c) Any teacher or employee absent from employment as a result of injury sustained during an assault or for a court appearance in connection with such assault shall continue to receive his or her full salary, while so absent, except that the amount of any workers' compensation award may be deducted from salary payments during such absence. The time of such absence shall not be charged against such teacher or employee's sick leave, vacation time or personal leave days.

[(c)] (d) For the purposes of this section, the terms "teacher" and "other employee" shall include any student teacher doing practice teaching under the direction of a teacher employed by a local or regional board of education or by the State Board of Education or Board of Governors of Higher Education, and any member of the faculty or staff or any student employed by The University of Connecticut Health Center or health services.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:

Section 1

October 1, 2018

New section

Sec. 2

October 1, 2018

10-236a

Statement of Purpose:

To require a contractor under contract with a board of education to inform the superintendent when an employee is arrested or under criminal investigation and to create a cause of action for teachers harmed by an unremedied hazardous condition.

[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.]

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