Governor Malloy has added an addendum to the “Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act” (CFEPA) called An Act Concerning Pregnant Women in the Workplace (The Act), which goes into effect on October 1, 2017. This new law enhances employment protections for pregnant employees and applicants under the state’s existing anti-discrimination law.

“The Act” maintains the current employer obligations that CFEPA requires for pregnant employees, and will now also make it discriminatory in Connecticut to:

• Limit, segregate, or classify an employee in a way that would deprive her of employment opportunities because of her pregnancy
• Discriminate on the basis of an employee or applicant’s pregnancy in the terms or conditions of her employment
• Fail to accommodate a current or prospective employee during her pregnancy (unless providing such accommodation would constitute an undue hardship on the employer)
• Deny employment opportunities to a pregnant employee or applicant if denial is due to a request for reasonable accommodation
• Require a pregnant employee or applicant to accept a reasonable accommodation if one is not needed
• Require a pregnant employee take a leave of absence where a different reasonable accommodation may exist that would allow the employee to continue to perform the essential functions of her position
• Retaliate against an employee based on her request for reasonable accommodation relating to pregnancy

The Act also provides new, expansive definitions for the terms “pregnancy”, “reasonable accommodation”, and “undue hardship” under CFEPA.

“The Act” also includes extensive notice requirements that Connecticut employers must adhere to as well.

If you have any questions about this new Act, or how to implement or publicize it within your organization, we at KardasLarson will be happy to help you navigate through this sea of uncertainty.