Bill Text: CT HB07084 | 2017 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning Employee Wages.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-17 - Public Hearing 02/21 [HB07084 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2017-HB07084-Introduced.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 7084
January Session, 2017		LCO No. 4047
		*04047_______LAB*
Referred to Committee on LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
Introduced by:
(LAB)

AN ACT CONCERNING EMPLOYEE WAGES.

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

Section 1. Section 31-60 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2017):

(a) Any employer who pays or agrees to pay to an employee less than the minimum fair wage or overtime wage shall be deemed in violation of the provisions of this part.

(b) The Labor Commissioner shall adopt such regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, as may be appropriate to carry out the purposes of this part. Such regulations may include, but are not limited to, regulations defining and governing an executive, administrative or professional employee and outside salesperson; learners and apprentices, their number, proportion and length of service; and piece rates in relation to time rates; and shall [recognize, as part of the minimum fair wage, gratuities in an amount (1) equal to twenty-nine and three-tenths per cent, and effective January 1, 2009, equal to thirty-one per cent of the minimum fair wage per hour, and effective January 1, 2014, equal to thirty-four and six-tenths per cent of the minimum fair wage per hour, and effective January 1, 2015, equal to thirty-six and eight-tenths per cent of the minimum fair wage per hour for persons, other than bartenders, who are employed in the hotel and restaurant industry, including a hotel restaurant, who customarily and regularly receive gratuities, (2) equal to eight and two-tenths per cent, and effective January 1, 2009, equal to eleven per cent of the minimum fair wage per hour, and effective January 1, 2014, equal to fifteen and six-tenths per cent of the minimum fair wage per hour, and effective January 1, 2015, equal to eighteen and one-half per cent of the minimum fair wage per hour for persons employed as bartenders who customarily and regularly receive gratuities, and (3) not to exceed thirty-five cents per hour in any other industry, and shall also] recognize deductions and allowances for the value of board, in the amount of eighty-five cents for a full meal and forty-five cents for a light meal, lodging, apparel or other items or services supplied by the employer; and other special conditions or circumstances which may be usual in a particular employer-employee relationship. The commissioner may provide, in such regulations, modifications of the minimum fair wage herein established for [learners and] apprentices; [persons under the age of eighteen years;] and for such special cases or classes of cases as the commissioner finds appropriate to prevent curtailment of employment opportunities, avoid undue hardship and safeguard the minimum fair wage herein established. Regulations in effect on July 1, 1973, providing for a board deduction and allowance in an amount differing from that provided in this section shall be construed to be amended consistent with this section.

(c) Regulations adopted by the commissioner pursuant to subsection (b) of this section which define executive, administrative and professional employees shall be updated not later than October 1, 2000, and every four years thereafter, to specify that such persons shall be compensated on a salary basis at a rate determined by the Labor Commissioner.

Sec. 2. Section 31-58 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2017):

As used in this part:

(a) "Commissioner" means the Labor Commissioner;

(b) "Fair wage" means a wage fairly and reasonably commensurate with the value of a particular service or class of service rendered, and, in establishing a minimum fair wage for such service or class of service under this part, the commissioner, without being bound by any technical rules of evidence or procedure, (1) may take into account all relevant circumstances affecting the value of the services rendered, including hours and conditions of employment affecting the health, safety and general well-being of the workers, (2) may be guided by such considerations as would guide a court in a suit for the reasonable value of services rendered where services are rendered at the request of an employer without contract as to the amount of the wage to be paid, and (3) may consider the wages, including overtime or premium rates, paid in the state for work of like or comparable character by employers who voluntarily maintain minimum fair wage standards;

(c) "Department" means the Labor Department;

(d) "Employer" means any owner or any person, partnership, corporation, limited liability company or association of persons acting directly as, or on behalf of, or in the interest of an employer in relation to employees, including the state and any political subdivision thereof;

(e) "Employee" means any individual employed or permitted to work by an employer but shall not include any individual employed in camps or resorts which are open no more than six months of the year or in domestic service in or about a private home, except any individual in domestic service employment as defined in the regulations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, or an individual employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity as defined in the regulations of the Labor Commissioner or an individual employed by the federal government, or any individual engaged in the activities of an educational, charitable, religious, scientific, historical, literary or nonprofit organization where the employer-employee relationship does not, in fact, exist or where the services rendered to such organizations are on a voluntary basis, or any individual employed as a head resident or resident assistant by a college or university, or any individual engaged in baby sitting, or an outside salesman as defined in the regulations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, or any individual employed by a nonprofit theater, provided such theater does not operate for more than seven months in any calendar year, or a member of the armed forces of the state performing military duty, as such terms are defined in section 27-61;

(f) A resort is defined as an establishment under one management whose principal function it is to offer lodging by the day, week, month or season, or part thereof, to vacationers or those in search of recreation;

(g) "Employ" means to employ or suffer to work;

(h) "Wage" means compensation due to an employee by reason of his employment;

(i) "Minimum fair wage" in any industry or occupation in this state means a wage of not less than six dollars and seventy cents per hour, and effective January 1, 2003, not less than six dollars and ninety cents per hour, and effective January 1, 2004, not less than seven dollars and ten cents per hour, and effective January 1, 2006, not less than seven dollars and forty cents per hour, and effective January 1, 2007, not less than seven dollars and sixty-five cents per hour, and effective January 1, 2009, not less than eight dollars per hour, and effective January 1, 2010, not less than eight dollars and twenty-five cents per hour, and effective January 1, 2014, not less than eight dollars and seventy cents per hour, and effective January 1, 2015, not less than nine dollars and fifteen cents per hour, and effective January 1, 2016, not less than nine dollars and sixty cents per hour, and effective January 1, 2017, not less than ten dollars and ten cents per hour or one-half of one per cent rounded to the nearest whole cent more than the highest federal minimum wage, whichever is greater, except as may otherwise be established in accordance with the provisions of this part. All wage orders in effect on October 1, 1971, wherein a lower minimum fair wage has been established, are amended to provide for the payment of the minimum fair wage herein established except as hereinafter provided. Whenever the highest federal minimum wage is increased, the minimum fair wage established under this part shall be increased to the amount of said federal minimum wage plus one-half of one per cent more than said federal rate, rounded to the nearest whole cent, effective on the same date as the increase in the highest federal minimum wage, and shall apply to all wage orders and administrative regulations then in force. The rates for learners, beginners, and persons under the age of eighteen years shall be not less than [eighty-five per cent of the minimum fair wage for the first two hundred hours of such employment and equal to] the minimum fair wage, [thereafter,] except institutional training programs specifically exempted by the commissioner.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	October 1, 2017	31-60
Sec. 2	October 1, 2017	31-58

Statement of Purpose:

To eliminate the exemptions to the minimum fair wage, including the training wage and tip credit.

[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.]