Last year, we reported that the most significant business law case decided was Patino v. Birken Manufacturing Company, 304 Conn. 679 (2012), in which Chief Justice Chase Rogers wrote an opinion holding that Connecticut General Statutes § 46a-81c (1) creates a cause of action for hostile work environment claims where employees are subjected to discrimination and harassment based on their sexual orientation.
This year, Chief Justice Rogers again addressed the vexing issue of workplace harassment by writing for a majority (Justice Dennis Eveleigh dissented) that held that an arbitrator’s award should be vacated because it did not recognize that there is a clear, well-defined, and dominant public policy against sexual harassment in the workplace in Connecticut.
