New Salary Range Disclosure Law May Create Headaches for Connecticut Employers
The law comes with a powerful hammer - a private cause of action. Thus, employees and applicants can file a lawsuit if the statute is violated and may be entitled to compensatory damages, attorneys' fees, and punitive damages.
Connecticut joins a small handful of other jurisdictions with similar laws, including Colorado, which enacted a law that became effective in early 2021. The perceived burden of Colorado's law has been so great that there are several published accounts of national employers excluding Colorado-based workers from job postings for remote positions to avoid salary range disclosures.
Whether the Connecticut law applies to remote workers is not specifically addressed in the statute, but employers may have to assume for the time being that it does.
Employers will need to quickly develop a process to ensure that any requests for wage range information are not ignored. Employers will also need to develop a process to provide such information in connection with any employee being offered a job, being hired, or changing jobs. Failure to do so risks defending a costly lawsuit.