Connecticut (CT) Employment Discrimination Law in the Workplace

August 15th, 2006 Posted by Karen

When I saw Connecticut’s laws concerning workplace discrimination, I was very surprised. Of course, that’s simply because I had the thought, “little state, little laws.” This thought was way off base. Connecticut’s anti-discrimination statutes are very broad and powerful. They not only protect against discriminatory acts concerning age, ancestry, color, learning disability, marital status, mental retardation, national origin, physical disability, race, religious creed, sex and sexual orientation, but they also give further protection than federal law in the cases of age discrimination and physical disability.

Federal law covers people over 40 in age discrimination and defines physical disability as a condition which has a substantial limitation on a major life activity. State law protects people under 40 from age discrimination and defines physical disability as a chronic impairment.

Claims filed in Connecticut must be done through the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO); in turn, this agency will work with the federal agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to process filed claims that have been cross-filed. In order for both agencies to work on the claim, the injured party must request that the CHRO cross-file their claim with the EEOC. Businesses with 3-14 employees are only covered under state law and claims against them cannot be cross-filed with the federal agency. To file a claim injured parties need to contact the CHRO at one of four offices:

* Hartford: 860-566-7710 or TDD: 860-566-7710

* Norwich: 860-886-5703 or TDD: 860-886-5707

* Bridgeport: 203-579-6246 or TDD: 203-579-6246

* Waterbury: 203-805-6530 or TDD: 203-805-6579

To file a claim, you have to contact the CHRO office nearest you within 180 days of the discriminatory act. Once you have contacted them and filed, you have an additional 120 days to cross-file your case with the EEOC. Because of the legalities in filing, it is recommended that filing be done early to avoid mistakes that push the claim past the deadlines and that a attorney be retained. Hiring an attorney is not necessary, but can make it much easier on the injured party.

In order to take a claim to federal court, the injured party has to file a claim with the CHRO, have it referred to the EEOC, and be dismissed by the EEOC. If the FCHR and/or EEOC do not resolve the case, they will issue one of 2 documents: “Dismissal and Notice of Rights” or “Notice of Right to Sue.” Once either of these forms is received the injured party has only 90 days to file a federal court case if they choose to further pursue the issue. To take a claim to state court, you must have the CHRO’s release or dismissal first. Like federal court, you have only 90 days to file a court case after receiving either of these from the CHRO. However, if CHRO has your case pending for at least 210 days, you may request a release so that you can file a state court case based on the claim.

Connecticut does not limit damages due to emotional pain and suffering. Because of this, the plaintiff’s attorney may choose to file in a federal court under both state and federal law.

Connecticut has many restrictions on proper filing of discrimination claims, but by having everyone file through the state agency (who, in turn cross-files the claim through the EEOC), the process is somewhat streamlined for those who file claims. It would be interesting to see the number of mistakes in cross-filing in Connecticut versus those on states which have a system where people can make claims in either office and request cross-filing. It seems that Connecticut’s system would take much of the confusion out and result in less cases being doubly filed because the injured party filed in both offices and requested cross-filing as well.

Last 10 posts by Karen

« Colorado (CO) Employment Discrimination Law in the Workplace
Florida (FL) Employment Discrimination Law in the Workplace »
Posted in Connecticut, Discrimination, Employment Laws, Hostile Environment

RELATED LINKS

Subscribe to RSS

Subscribe to this blog via email
Delivered by FeedBurner
add