Connecticut Becomes First State To Require Paid Sick Leave (For Some Workers)

Hallelujah!  My home state, Connecticut, has just passed the first law in the country requiring employers to offer paid sick leave.  Governor Malloy has already said he will sign the bill into law.

The law requires employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for each 40 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours (5 full days) per year.  Employees are allowed to carry over up to 40 unused hours per year.  Employees can begin using the sick leave after they have worked 680 hours (17 full weeks).  Paid sick leave can be used for the employee's health condition, including treatment or preventive care, or the health condition of a child, parent or spouse.  Special provisions of the law apply to victims of domestic violence.

The law is not perfect.  It does not apply to all employers; only those with 50 or more employees are covered.  In addition, manufacturing companies and nationally chartered nonprofit organizations are exempted from coverage.  The law also does not apply to all employees.  Only hourly workers, not salaried, are covered.  In additions, day laborers, temporary workers, part-time and adjunct faculty at state colleges and independent contractors are excluded.

Still, this is a great start.  Once this law goes into effect, the dire predictions of its opponents will be shown to be nothing but hot air.  At that point, we may be able to expand it to cover salaried workers, smaller employers, manufacturers, etc.  And once that happens, lets hope the good example of Connecticut will lead other states to do the same.

Yes, You Can Be Fired For Being A Jerk

File this one under bad judgment.  In a decision to be released on March 22, the Connecticut Appellate Court found that being rude, insulting and obnoxious to your boss is sufficient misconduct to disqualify an employee from collecting unemployment when he gets fired.  In Joseph v. Administrator, Unemployment Compensation, the employer discharged the employee, an accountant, "immediately after he sent his supervisor two highly insulting and demeaning e-mail messages questioning her accounting and supervisory abilities."  This wasn't the first time the employee had been insulting and demeaning; he previously had accused co-workers and a former supervisor of both incompetence and some unspecified "fraud."  Unemployment denied his claim for benefits, in part because his offensive e-mails were not spontaneous, during a heated discussion, but were a deliberate attempt to undermine his supervisor.  The Appellate Court agreed, finding that, because the e-mails insulted his supervisor personally and undermined her supervisory authority, his actions rose to the level of willful misconduct in the course of employment.

You would think it's kind of obvious, that being an obnoxious jerk towards your boss is a good way to get yourself fired.  Could the employer have done something short of firing him?  Of course they could.  But the important point is that they were not required to do so.  So remember, my grandmother's advice (if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all) applies with the force of law in the workplace.

CT Appellate Court Refuses To Bind Employer To Progressive Discipline Policy

In a blow to employee rights, the Connecticut Appellate Court refused to require an employer to live up to its progressive discipline policy.  In the case of Brule v. Nerac, Inc., the Court found that the employer was not bound by the progressive discipline policy set forth in its management training course, because the language was too vague to give rise to a contractual obligation.

The employer provided a management training course, which included training materials directing managers to provide "progressive discipline, open communication and an opportunity for improvement" prior to terminating their subordinates’ employment.  The employees, who were terminated without following progressive discipline, claimed that this training course formed contractually binding obligations not to terminate them without first following progressive discipline.  The Court decided against the employees, holding that the training materials merely set forth "a series of suggested principles that the managers should observe. . . ." (emphasis in original).

This decision once again shows that, for most workers, progressive discipline policies are worthless, because the employer can toss them out the window at any time.  I can't tell you how many times I've had people call me to complain that they were fired without following a progressive discipline policy, and I've had to tell them that I couldn't help them.  When your employer has you sign off on the employee handbook with a big disclaimer that says you are an employee at-will, that means the employer is not bound by any of the policies in the handbook.

Wisconsin vs. Connecticut

The Washington Post is reporting that several Republican State Senators in Wisconsin are now considering voting against Governor Scott Walker's heinous union-busting bill.  If true, this is great news!  Organized labor could use a high-profile victory like this.  Indeed, it seems to me that Walker's overreaching may wind up being the best thing to happen to America's labor movement in years.

Let's contrast this with my home state of Connecticut, where Governor Dannel Malloy is trying to close an enormous hole in the budget.  Like Walker, Malloy has asked public employees for major givebacks.  Unlike Walker, however, Malloy is sitting down with the unions, in talks described as "respectful."  And it appears that Malloy, unlike Walker, will succeed in obtaining concessions from the unions without turning the state capitol into an armed camp.

The fortunes of America's labor movement directly correlate with the fortunes of America's middle class.  The golden age of union membership, from the mid-1940's through the mid 1970's, corresponds with the rise of the middle class.  But since the beginning of the assault on unions during the Reagan administration, America's middle class has been squeezed.  Let's hope that we're starting to see the re-birth of the union movement, and that Dannel Malloy's approach wins out over Scott Walker's.