Sec.31-51qq-25. How are employees protected who request leave or otherwise assert FMLA rights?

(a) The FMLA prohibits interference with an employee’s rights under the law, and with legal proceedings or inquiries relating to an employee’s rights. More specifically, the law contains the following employee protections:

(1) No employer shall interfere with, restrain or deny the exercise of, or attempts to exercise, any rights provided by the Act.

(2) No employer shall discharge or cause to be discharged or in any other manner discriminate against any person, whether or not an employee, for opposing or complaining about any unlawful practice under the Act or because such employee has exercised the rights afforded to such employee under the Act.

(3) No person, whether or not an employer, shall discharge or cause to be discharged or in any other way discriminate against any person, whether or not an employee, because that person has:

(A) Filed any charge, or has instituted, or caused to be instituted, any proceeding under or related to the Act;

(B) Given, or is about to give, any information in connection with an inquiry or proceeding relating to a right under the Act; or

(C) Testified, or is about to testify, in any inquiry or proceeding relating to a right under the Act.

(b) Any violations of the Act or of these regulations constitute interfering with, restraining, or denying the exercise of rights provided by the Act. “Interfering with” the exercise of an employee’s rights would include, for example, not only refusing to authorize FMLA leave, but discouraging an employee from using such leave. It would also include attempts by a covered employer to avoid responsibilities under the FMLA.

(c) No employer shall discriminate or retaliate against an employee or prospective employee for having exercised or attempted to exercise FMLA rights. For example, if an employee on leave without pay would otherwise be entitled to full benefits, the same benefits shall be provided to an employee on unpaid FMLA leave. By the same token, employers cannot use the taking of FMLA leave as a negative factor in employment actions, such as hiring, promotions or disciplinary actions; nor can FMLA leave be counted under “no fault” attendance policies.

(d) For purposes of this subsection, “sick leave” means an absence from work for which compensation is provided through an employer’s bona fide written policy providing compensation for loss of wages occasioned by illness, but does not include absences from work for which compensation is provided through an employer’s plan, including, but not limited to, a short or long-term disability plan, whether or not such plan is self-insured. No employer shall deny an employee the right to use up to two (2) weeks of accumulated sick leave or discharge, threaten to discharge, demote, suspend or in any manner discriminate against an employee for using, or attempting to exercise the right to use, up to two (2) weeks of accumulated sick leave to attend to serious health condition of the employee’s family member, or for the birth or adoption of the employee’s son or daughter.

(e) Employees cannot waive, nor may employers induce employees to waive, their prospective rights under FMLA. For example, employees or their collective bargaining representatives cannot “trade off” the right to take FMLA leave against some other benefit offered by the employer. This does not prevent the settlement or release of FMLA claims by employees based on past employer conduct without the approval of the Labor Department or a court. Nor does it prevent an employee’s voluntary and uncoerced acceptance (not as a condition of employment) of a “light duty” assignment while recovering from a serious health condition. In such a circumstance, the employee’s right to restoration to the same or an equivalent position is available until the applicable FMLA leave entitlement has passed within the twelve (12)-month period, including all FMLA leave taken and the period of “light duty.”

(f) Individuals, and not merely employees, are protected from retaliation for opposing (e.g., filing a complaint about) any practice which is unlawful under the Act. They are similarly protected if they oppose any practice which they reasonably believe to be a violation of the Act or sections 31-51qq-1 to 31-51qq-52, inclusive, of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.

(Adopted effective March 9, 1999; Amended August 3, 2022)