The Connecticut general statutes mandate a number of workplace protections for employees that in an earlier era would have been found only in collective bargaining agreements or voluntary corporate policies. Just a few examples are restrictions on workplace surveillance (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 31-48b); limitations on employee drug testing (Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-51t et seq.); employee break time (Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-51ii), or the right to receive emergency phone calls (Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-51jj).
Another major consideration of employee protection is excused time off and paid time off, since it involves employer expenditures not offset by productivity. Once left to the discretion of employer policy or bargained for with a union, leaves of absence have become one of the more significant areas of legislated employee benefits. The evolution of one aspect of this benefit, whether an employee on leave can collect sick leave pay even though the absence is not due to the employee’s own illness, provides an interesting example of how the legislature has become increasing involved in the management of the workplace.
