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Last updated on: December 28th, 2023
Hours & Pay Regulations
Normal Working Hours
An employee shall not work in excess of 8 hours per day or 40 hours weekly (excluding Overtime).
“Hours worked” include all time during which an employee is required by the employer to be on the employer’s premises or to be on duty, or to be at the prescribed workplace, and all time during which an employee is employed or permitted to work, whether or not required to do so, provided time allowed for meals shall be excluded unless the employee is required or permitted to work. Such time includes, but shall not be limited to, the time when an employee is required to wait on the premises while no work is provided by the employer.
Shift Scheduling – Shift” is defined as the consecutive hours an employer mandates an employee to work or be on call, with breaks of one hour or less not considered an interruption of consecutive hours. Additionally, an employer is prohibited from altering an employee’s work schedule to begin on a different day of the week without providing written notice at least 21 days in advance. Furthermore, employers cannot compel employees to find a replacement to cover any missed hours during a scheduled shift.
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- If an employer makes changes to an employee’s shift (1) within 21 days but more than 24 hours prior to the shift, including adding, subtracting, canceling, or altering the start or end time, the employer must provide one hour of predictability pay in addition to owed wages for each changed shift.
- If changes to an employee’s shift (A) by adding hours or (B) by altering the start or end time occur less than 24 hours before the shift, the employer must pay four hours of predictability pay, in addition to owed wages, for each changed shift.
- If changes (A) by subtracting hours or (B) canceling a shift occur less than 24 hours before the shift, the employer must pay the lesser of 4 hours of predictability pay or an amount equal to (i) the reduced hours, or (ii) the total shift hours, in addition to owed wages, for each changed shift.
- Employers cannot require employees to work a shift within eleven hours after the end of a previous shift or following the end of a shift that spans midnight on consecutive days. Compensation for such shifts must be at a rate not less than one and a half times the regular rate of pay.
- These provisions do not apply to shift changes requested by employees, including requests for shifts other than those scheduled by the employer, or requests to use sick leave, vacation time, personal days, or other leave policies as required by law.
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Waiting Time – Connecticut minimum wage laws require employers to count time spent by employees waiting for work if the employees are required to remain on the employer’s premises. Such time is considered as hours worked
On-Call Time – Connecticut minimum wage laws require employers to count time spent by employees on-call for emergency services as hours worked for purposes of its minimum wage and overtime requirements if the employees are required to stay on the employer’s premises or at another designated location.
An employer does not need to pay employees who are on-call to perform emergency services if they are not required to remain on the employer’s premises and are only required to provide the employer with contact information. However, an employer must pay employees who are on-call from the time the employees are notified of a work assignment until it has been completed. Likewise, when an employee is not on-call but is required to work by the employer without prior notice, the employer must pay the employee from the time they are notified of the work assignment until it is completed.
Sleeping Time – When an individual employed by a third-party provider to provide companionship services is required to be present at a worksite for a continuous period of at least 24 hours, an agreement in writing between the individual and the employer may exclude a regularly scheduled sleeping period, not exceeding 8 hours, from the total hours worked. This exclusion is contingent upon the provision of adequate on-site sleeping facilities and the individual receiving a minimum of 5 hours of sleep time.
However, if the scheduled sleeping period exceeds 8 hours, only 8 hours will be excluded. In cases where the scheduled sleeping period is interrupted by a work assignment, the interruption is to be counted as hours worked. If the individual does not receive at least five hours of sleep time during the scheduled period, the entire sleeping period will be considered as hours worked.
Travel Time – Connecticut’s minimum wage regulations mandate that employers include employee travel time as compensable hours for minimum wage and overtime calculations if such travel is necessary or allowed for job-related activities. This excludes an employee’s regular commute from home to work or vice versa.
In situations where employees are required to report to a work location farther from home than their usual workplace, the employer is obligated to remunerate them for the additional travel time incurred to reach the more distant location. Similarly, if employees return home from work at a location farther from home than their typical workplace, the employer must compensate them for the extra travel time.
Employers are required to pay for employee travel time when it is undertaken for the benefit of the employer. Moreover, if such travel-related expenses cause an employee’s wage rate to fall below the minimum wage, the employer must provide compensation to cover these expenses.
Time Recording Requirements – An employer must keep at the place of employment for a period of 3 years a true and accurate record of:
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- the hours worked by all employees, total daily and weekly hours worked showing the beginning and ending time of each work period, computed to the nearest unit of 15 minutes.
- the wages paid to each employee.
- overtime wage as a separate item.
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Overtime
Any work performed beyond 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week is considered overtime work.
Pay – An employee is entitled to premium pay at the rate of 1.5 times their regular rate for all hours worked excess in a workweek.
Breaks
Employers must provide a rest period of at least 30 consecutive minutes to employees working 7.5 or more consecutive hours. The meal period must occur after the first 2 hours of work and before the last 2 hours.
Breast Feeding Breaks
Any employee may, at her discretion, express breast milk or breastfeed on-site at her workplace during her meal or break period. An employer shall make reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location, in close proximity to the work area, other than a toilet stall, where the employee can express her milk in private.
Weekly Rest
No employer shall compel any employee engaged in any commercial occupation or in the work of any industrial process to work more than six days in any calendar week. An employee’s refusal to work more than six days in any calendar week shall not constitute grounds for his dismissal.
Annual Leave
Annual Leave is given to the employee at the discretion of the employer. They are fringe benefits based on an agreement between the employer and employee.
An employer is required to pay an accrued vacation to an employee upon separation from employment if its policy or contract requires it. Conn. Stat. 31-76k. An employer is not required to pay accrued vacation leave upon separation from employment if the employer’s established policy or employment contract is silent on the matter unless the employer has established a practice of doing so. See Santangelo v. Elite Beverage, Inc., 783 A.2d 500, 65 Conn. App. 618 (2001).
An employer may lawfully cap the amount of leave an employee may accrue over time. See Santangelo v. Elite Beverage, Inc., 783 A.2d 500, 65 Conn. App. 618 (2001). An employer would also likely be free to implement a “use-it-or-lose-it” policy requiring employees to use their leave by a set date or lose it. See Santangelo v. Elite Beverage, Inc., 783 A.2d 500, 65 Conn. App. 618 (2001).
Special Leave
Duration of the Leave: Eligible employees must accrue one hour of sick leave for every 40 hours worked during a 365-day period chosen by employers, up to a maximum of 40 hours of sick leave per year.
Accruals must be in one-hour increments. Employees may carry over up to 40 hours of unused sick leave each year, but may not use more than 40 hours in any year.
Eligibility Criteria: Employers with 50 or more employees (based on the number of employees on the payroll during the week containing Oct. 1) must provide paid sick leave to eligible employees.
Eligible employees include full- and part-time service workers. Employees who are day or temporary workers, per diem employees, and employees who are considered exempt under the federal FLSA are specifically excluded.
Service employees become eligible to use accrued sick leave after completing 680 hours of work from the date of hire, provided they have worked an average of at least 10 hours per week in the most recent calendar quarter.
A “service worker” is an employee engaged in a specific occupation defined by federal labor classification codes. They are typically paid hourly and are not exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements.
Usage of the leave: Employees may utilize accrued sick leave for the following purposes:
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- For the diagnosis, care, or treatment of the employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, or for preventive medical care.
- For the diagnosis, care, or treatment of the mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition of the employee’s child or spouse, or for preventive medical care for the child or spouse.
- In cases where the employee is a victim of family violence or sexual assault, for medical care or psychological counseling for physical or psychological injury or disability, obtaining services from a victim services organization, relocating due to such violence or assault, or participating in related civil or criminal proceedings.
- Employee attends to their emotional and psychological well-being instead of attending a regularly scheduled shift.
- In situations where the employee is the parent or guardian of a child who is a victim of family violence or sexual assault, the sick leave can be used for medical care or psychological counseling for the child’s physical or psychological injury or disability, obtaining services from a victim services organization, relocating due to such violence or assault, or participating in related civil or criminal proceedings. However, paid sick leave can only be used for these purposes if the employee is not the perpetrator or alleged perpetrator of such family violence or sexual assault.
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Notice Requirement: When the need for sick leave is foreseeable, employees are to provide up to 7 days’ prior notice (or as soon as possible, where the need for leave is not foreseeable). The employee is required to provide documentation for paid sick leave lasting 3 or more consecutive workdays to provide reasonable proof justifying the need for leave obtained from a healthcare provider. In cases of leave related to family violence or sexual assault, acceptable documentation includes verification from a volunteer working for a victim services organization, an attorney, a police officer or counselor, or a court record.
Exemption: Certain employers are exempt, including specific manufacturing operations and nationally chartered organizations exempt from taxation that provide recreation, child care, or educational services.
The law also allows eligible employees to take a one-time benefit of 26 workweeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period if the employee has a spouse, child, parent, or next of kin who is a member of the armed forces undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, or on the temporary disability retired list for a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty.
If an employee is a victim of family violence, an employer shall permit the employee to take paid or unpaid leave during any calendar year in which such leave is reasonably necessary –
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- To seek medical care or psychological or other counseling for physical or psychological injury or disability for the victim, or
- To obtain services from a victim services organization on behalf of the victim, (3) to relocate due to such family violence, or
- To participate in any civil or criminal proceeding related to or resulting from such family violence.
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Leave may be paid or unpaid. Employees with compensatory, vacation, personal, or other paid time off available may use that time for needed leave. Unpaid leave may be limited to 12 days during the calendar year. Employers are not required to provide paid time off to employees without any paid leave available.
A state employee who donates an organ to a person for organ transplantation shall be entitled to up to 15 days of paid leave (i.e. salary continuation) from state employment as a recovery period from such donation. – The “recovery period” consists of the surgery and the recovery from the surgery. It does not include pre-donation absences.
Organ Donor leave shall not result in a reduction in pay, the loss of any leave to which the employee is otherwise entitled, or a loss of credit for time or service or affect the employee’s rights with respect to any other employee benefits provided under federal or state law.
A state employee who donates bone marrow to a person for transplantation shall be entitled to up to seven days of paid leave (i.e. salary continuation) from state employment as a recovery period from such donation. The “recovery period” consists of the transplantation procedure and the recovery from the procedure. It does not include pre-donation absences. Bone Marrow Donor leave shall not result in a reduction in pay, the loss of any leave to which the employee is otherwise entitled, or a loss of credit for time or service or affect the employee’s rights with respect to any other employee benefits provided under federal or state law.
An employer is prohibited from discharging, threatening, or coercing an employee who receives a jury summons, responds to the summons, or serves as a juror. Employees are entitled to leave from work for the duration of jury service. Full-time employees (those working at least 30 hours per week in a non-temporary capacity) must be paid their regular wages for the first five days of jury service unless the employees would not have accrued regular wages or would not have worked more than a half shift that extends into another day. An employer may not require an employee who has served eight hours of jury duty in one day to work in excess of those eight hours.
In addition to the federal USERRA, Connecticut employers must allow employees who are members of the U.S. armed forces or the National Guard to take unpaid leave in order to perform military duty, including attending meetings or drills. Employees who take leave for these reasons may not lose vacation or holiday benefits or be unfairly discriminated against with respect to promotion, continued employment, reemployment, or reappointment.
Employers with one or more employees must provide eligible employees with family and medical leave. An eligible employee is an employee who has been employed at least 3 months immediately prior to the request for leave. An eligible employee is allowed up to 12 weeks of leave in any 12-month period, with an additional 2 weeks for a serious health condition resulting in during pregnancy for one or more of the following reasons:
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- The birth or adoption of the employee’s child;
- The placement of a foster child with the employee;
- Care for the spouse, son, daughter or parent of the employee with a serious health condition;
- An employee’s own serious health condition;
- An organ or bone marrow donation; or
- Any qualifying exigency when the employee’s spouse, child, or parent is on active duty or is notified of an impending call or order to active duty in the Armed Forces.
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Additionally, an employee may be entitled to a one-time benefit of 26 weeks of leave during a 12-month period to care for the employee’s spouse, child, parent or next of kin who is a current member of the armed forces and is undergoing medical treatment due to a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty. Leave is unpaid. Employees may choose, or employers may require, the substitution of any paid vacation or personal or family leave available to employees.
The definition of a family member is amended to mean a spouse, sibling, son or daughter, grandparent, grandchild or parent, or an individual related to the employee by blood or affinity whose close association shows to be the equivalent of those family relationships. Further, the definition of grandparent or grandchild is broadened to be related by blood, marriage, adoption, or foster care and the definition of parent now includes a parent-in-law. Employees are allowed to retain at least two weeks of accrued paid leave rather than exhausting it during a family or medical leave.
An employee is entitled to unpaid leave in order to: • Appear as a witness in any criminal proceeding; • Attend a court proceeding or participate in a police investigation related to a criminal case where the employee is a crime victim; or • Attend or participate in a court proceeding related to a civil case where the employee is a victim of family violence. Employers may not discharge, penalize, threaten, or coerce employees who take leave.
Employers with three or more employees must provide employees with an unpaid leave of absence for a reasonable amount of time due to disabilities resulting from pregnancy. Employers must also make reasonable accommodations for pregnant employees, such as providing time off to recover from childbirth. Employers cannot require employees to take a leave of absence due to pregnancy if reasonable accommodation can be provided instead of leave. Pregnancy means pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition, including (but not limited to) lactation.
An employer may not discharge or discriminate in any manner against any employee who is an active volunteer firefighter or member of a volunteer ambulance service for being late or absent from work as a result of responding to an emergency call prior to or during the employee’s regular working hours.
Employees must provide their employers with a written statement of their volunteer status within 30 days of being certified. Employees must also promptly inform their employers of any change in their volunteer status, including termination of volunteer status.
Employers with 25 or more employees must grant a leave of absence to employees who accept a full-time elective municipal or state office. The leave must be granted for no more than two terms of office. Leave is unpaid.
Employee shall be entitled to 2 hours of unpaid time off to vote from an employee’s regularly scheduled work on the day of any covered election during voting hours. Any employee who is part of a state election and any employee who is an elector in the case of any special election for United States senator, a representative in Congress, state senator, or state representative, shall be eligible to take the time off. An employee must request time off not less than two working days prior to the election day.
