From Lawyer to Employer: Season 4, Episode 2: Understanding Leave Laws: What Connecticut Employers Need to Know

Sarah Niemiroski: Oh, I thought it was phenomenal. I mean, it was great to see so many people out and engaged and where we had it down in New Haven, it was just a great location.

Daniel Schwartz: Yeah. I had not been in hotel Marcel, which is this great example of brutalist architecture, uh, right off of I 95. And they did a wonderful job there. It was great seeing everyone there. We had a full house for the seminar, and I think it certainly encouraged me that people are ready to get back to some of our in-person things, so, so let's switch gears.

Sarah, you and I, along with our colleague Claire Pariano, gave a whole presentation on this and I was really struck by a lot of the feedback we got. But let's just start with some of the basics for people who weren't at the seminar. We talked a lot about the differences between federal and Connecticut, FMLA, what's the sort of state of that right now.

Sarah Niemiroski: So the key overview here, you know, federal FMLA, it applies to employers who have, you know, more than 50 employees within a 75 mile radius. To be eligible employees have to have worked for the employer for 12 months. And to have worked 1,250 hours. Connecticut, FMLA is, is a bit more employee friendly.

Uh, it applies to all employers regardless of size. So if you have less than 50 employees, you're still covered under C-T-F-M-L-A. There's no minimum hours worked requirement. You just have to have been employed for three. And it covers a much broader range of family relationships. So, for example, under federal FMLA, it'll apply to, you know, your, your child if they're under the age of 18, or your spouse among others.

But Connecticut, FMLA also applies to your child, even if they're over the age of 18. And it applies to, uh, someone who you have a close affinity relationship with...

Daniel Schwartz: Let me follow up with you there. 'cause we did talk about that. What does sort of that mean in the practical sense?

Sarah Niemiroski: So in the practical sense, it's really someone who you view as being like family.

That, that's how I would put it. There are some regulations that have a more specific definition, but if it's someone you view as family, then that, that would qualify.

Daniel Schwartz: Can you have an employee sort of sign off on this, like require a, a little bit of documentation.

Sarah Niemiroski: Yeah. So you, you can require an employee to write down, um, that they view that person they're requesting leave for as having, you know, a familial relationship with them and then have them sign that document. But that's really all you can do.

Daniel Schwartz: Yeah. I suppose it can't be, you know, overly invasive on the verification, we then talked a lot about the sort of interplay between the two and it's, it's coming up again with the sort of expansion that we've had earlier this month in October of 2025. But what were sort of the takeaways for employers in this, in this area?

Sarah Niemiroski: So the, the key takeaways really are that these leave laws, Connecticut, FMLA, and federal FMLA are meant to run concurrently whenever possible. So this means that an employee won't be taking 12 weeks under FM federal FMLA and then 12 weeks under Connecticut FMLA under most situations. But because the eligibility standards.

Differ. As we talked about, you know, a few minutes ago, an employee can qualify under Connecticut FMLA because those standards are broader and not under federal FMLA, so that federal FMLA leave poll would be preserved. The key takeaway here really is that employers need to have consistent tracking systems and communication to ensure that leave when employees take it is properly designated, and that way you can help avoid, you know, anything like retaliation or interference claim coming down the line.

Daniel Schwartz: Yeah. The examples that we were talking about really highlighted that most of the time they do run concurrently, but let's suppose you had an employee who took a leave to care for a, an affinity relationship member and then needed to care for themself later you could.

See a situation where they would get both, right?

Sarah Niemiroski: Yep. You absolutely could. And then you'll also see it sometimes because you can be eligible under C-T-F-M-L-A sooner in your employment relationship than under federal FMLA. You know, after three months of employment, uh, you could see people taking.

Connecticut FMLA for one reason at month five of employment, and then they wouldn't be eligible for federal FMLA and they could take that pool, you know, later on down the line when they hit the 12 month mark for whatever reason.

Daniel Schwartz: Yeah, and, and I think you mentioned having a sort of consistent weighed track it.

Mm-hmm. And also have documentation that could be something like a notice of. Designation and eligibility,

Sarah Niemiroski: yes, you should always issue, you know, your required notice of designation and eligibility under both laws. And when an employee comes to you for a reason that could qualify for federal or C-T-F-M-L-A.

And then also when you're providing leave, you should make sure that this leave is coordinated with, you know, other laws like a, the A DA, uh, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or perhaps if they could be eligible under the Connecticut paid Leave Authority, provide them notice. That they could apply for that.

Daniel Schwartz: Yeah. And before we talk about paid leave, I think the point you just mentioned is really critical, which is this just unpaid protected leave. But you're not, you don't, the employer doesn't have any obligation to pay someone during an FMLA leave, right.

Sarah Niemiroski: Correct. Uh, there's no obligation to pay someone. I'll note that under federal FMLA, you do have an obligation to maintain health insurance coverage.

That obligation doesn't exist under CT FMLA. But no, you don't have to pay them.

Daniel Schwartz: Okay, cool. So then we also talked a little bit about paid sick leave and paid family, paid family leave programs as well, that state runs. What are some of the things that employers, uh, should know there that we talked about?

Sarah Niemiroski: So the state of Connecticut has, they've more or less given everything what sounds like the same title. So I talk about. Connecticut's paid sick leave law. I I refer to it now as statutory sick leave to kind of clear it up for folks. As of January 1st, 2025, Connecticut has paid sick leave, statutory sick leave for pretty much all employees.

Previously, this law only applied to service workers paid sick leave law. Statutory sick leave requires, uh, employers to provide up to 40 hours of. Sick leave, uh, to their employees accrued at a rate of one hour per 30 hours worked. And there comes with, you know, a whole bunch of concerns that you need to be aware of when administering this statutory sick leave.

So employees are able to take it in one hour increments and they're able to take it for a broad variety of reasons. You know, to care for a child to mental health Wellness Day is a big one. There was a recent change that came through in the latest legislative session that applies to boards of ED and municipalities.

So for your public safety groups, please fire and then Public Works groups, and then for your board of Ed and all your employees, you can now contract to have. A increment that is greater than one hour in your collective bargaining agreements. So if you have a collective bargaining agreement with your employees and it's explicitly sets forth a minimum increment of say a half day, that would now control instead of the one hour increment, but it has to be directly in your collective bargaining agreement.

Daniel Schwartz: Cool. And then we talked about Connecticut paid leave, which, um, by the way, I'm all a fan of coming up with new names for these types of leaves. If any of our listeners have any great ideas, we're all for it. But Connecticut paid leave is I think as we talked about, a sort of. Benefit that is run by the state.

Employers need to administer it in that they are withholding some salary and paying it to the state for a trust fund. But otherwise, employers really aren't involved much on administering paid leave, right?

Sarah Niemiroski: Correct. Employers just need to notify their employees that, that it's, it's available for them.

They're not involved in the administration of it, but you can access certain claim data as an. Employer from the authority. So your employee's name, claim number, the status, and the amount of benefit that they're receiving.

Daniel Schwartz: So I, I think one of the other things we talked about there is the sort of need to coordinate benefit administration.

You really do need. People who understand the interplay between the two can document it. I, I think that's gonna be critical, right?

Sarah Niemiroski: Oh, absolutely. Because if your employee is receiving, you know, uh, payment from the authority for their qualified reason, and then they want to receive, you know, sick leave from you to top it up, like you need to know how much they're receiving from the authority to make sure that they're not being paid more than they would otherwise be owed.

Daniel Schwartz: Cool. One of the other. Topics we then switched gears to was under the Americans with Disabilities Act, so the a DA. And one of the scenarios we dealt with an employee who had exhausted FMLA, but still needed time off as a reasonable accommodation. And that's something that. Could be available under the a DA, right?

Sarah Niemiroski: It is. It could be available. So the, the A DA, I mean, it doesn't require employers to provide unlimited paid leave, but under some circumstances, additional unpaid leave could be a reasonable accommodation. Really, this is gonna be a case. By case basis, and the employers are gonna have to assess whether providing that leave would be an undue hardship.

When you're going through this, you just need to make sure everything is documented and that you're actually engaging in the interactive process, so the back and forth with your employee to determine, what could be a reasonable accommodation.

Daniel Schwartz: Yeah, and you made a a, I think a really good point at this seminar that requests for sort of unlimited or indefinite.

Leave as an accommodation really isn't gonna be a reasonable accommodation in almost any circumstance, right?

Sarah Niemiroski: No, pretty much not.

Daniel Schwartz: Yeah. So we spent a, a good bit of time at the presentation and we heard a lot of good feedback from people about some of the scenarios and hypotheticals that we did. Was there anyone that was, um, a favorite of yours that we did?

Sarah Niemiroski: So there, there were a few that I enjoyed. So we had the Maria caring for her neighbor scenario. So that was really highlighting what we just talked about, about how Connecticut FMLA has this affinity relationship that allows employees to take time off. Maria wanted to care for her neighbor. Took, took eight weeks or six weeks, I can't remember, and then came back later and said, oh, I have, I have to have knee surgery and I, I want time off.

So that, that was good 'cause it was, you know, a refresher. It highlighted this. Different for the employees. And then we really had a long running scenario built into this presentation about Marcellus and mental health leave. Uh, Marcellus is named after the octopus from remarkably bright creatures, if anyone is curious about his name, origin.

But in any event, Marcellus and his mental health issues, it really highlighted how intermittent leave and the a DA and FMLA, it can all overlap and really complicate the return to work process for employers.

Daniel Schwartz: Yeah, Marcellus seemed to be having a particularly bad day in our hypotheticals there, or a bad year, but I think one of the points that I made there was yes, even though he seems to be taking a lot of leave, and even though some of it seemed to be somewhat skeptical about it, the laws provide for the leave, and at the end of the day, that's what employers have to comply with.

Sarah Niemiroski: They do. At the very end of Marcellus scenarios, I suppose we note that, you know, it had been one, one full year since he had taken any leave, and he comes to you with an intermittent leave request, and of course you're gonna view it and it's gonna be a little bit colored by your past experience.

But at the end of the day, I mean, you have to take everything as it comes and follow the law.

Daniel Schwartz: Yeah, intermittent leave can be its own separate podcast episode. I may write about it on our blog if anyone's further interested in it, but we had a number of questions on the intermittent leave, so maybe we'll save that for, uh, for another episode.

So anyways, any. Other key takeaways from our presentation that you wanted to mention?

Sarah Niemiroski: Really, uh, employers, you, you should really be gathering facts before making employment decisions. These leave laws are complicated. If you have any doubts about administering them, you perhaps should hit pause and consult your legal counsel.

And really, this goes for many things in the employment world. Keep detailed documentation of every step in communication with your employees about this.

Daniel Schwartz: Yeah. And I would add to that, I think, uh, if you haven't updated your policies and procedures, particularly in the last couple of years, you're really overdue for that.

There have been a number of changes to Connecticut, FMLA to paid sick leave that really require changes. I, I know I had someone that came up to me that was unaware that Connecticut had. Changed. Its FMLA from, uh, 16 weeks over a two year period to 12 weeks over a one year period. And that was a number of years ago.

So if you're still in that mindset, uh, or if this still strikes a chord, like, oh, I didn't, I didn't know that. It's probably time to update your policies. So I think that's probably a good note to leave us on, Sarah. Thanks again for joining us. No problem. Uh, so, uh, this concludes another episode of From Lawyer to Employer.

If you haven't already, hit subscribe in your podcast, uh, feed, whether it's Spotify, apple Podcast. Please do so. If you want to give us a review or share the podcast with any of your HR friends and employment lawyers, we'd love that as well. And if you have a topic that you'd like us to talk about in an upcoming episode, please feel free to send me a email at dSchwartz@goodwin.com.

We're gonna have. More from our Labor and employment seminar in some upcoming podcast episodes. So stay tuned for that as well. And for additional resources, uh, you can also go to the shipment and Goodwin website, shipment and goodwin.com. Until next time, stay compliant and maybe, uh, we will take the words of our podcast episode to heart a little bit and leave it to the lawyers.

Thanks again.

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