Bill Text: CT SB00039 | 2016 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning The Minimum Fair Wage And Employees Who Customarily And Regularly Receive Gratuities.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-02-26 - Public Hearing 03/03 [SB00039 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2016-SB00039-Introduced.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 39
February Session, 2016		LCO No. 491
		*00491_______LAB*
Referred to Committee on LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
Introduced by:
(LAB)

AN ACT CONCERNING THE MINIMUM FAIR WAGE AND EMPLOYEES WHO CUSTOMARILY AND REGULARLY RECEIVE GRATUITIES.

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 Section 31-60 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2016):

(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.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	October 1, 2016	31-60

Statement of Purpose:

To improve the financial standing of certain individuals who customarily and regularly receive gratuities by eliminating the tip credit used in the calculation of the minimum fair wage.

[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.]