Connecticut Labor Laws

In the US, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) manages the time spent by employees in the workplace, safeguards their rights, and guarantees fair pay for their efforts. These laws act as directives for employers, keeping them in check, and minimizing any forms of abuse or exploitation.

Connecticut labor laws provide employees with greater wage provisions relative to federal law. A brief overview of minimum wage, overtime, and break laws in the state is as follows:

Employers who contravene state labor or time management laws can face severe legal ramifications, including fines, back pay, and damages. If workers feel that their employer has violated their rights, they can file a complaint with the Connecticut Department of Labor Wage and Workplace Standards Division for investigation and legal action.

The Connecticut Human Rights and Opportunities Statute prohibits private and public sector employers with three or more workers from discriminating or retaliating against job applicants or employees due to their:

The Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act (CROWN Act) in Connecticut further extends anti-discriminatory protections to workers with different hair textures and protective hairstyles, including but not limited to wigs, headwraps, braids, cornrows, locs, twists, Bantu knots, afros and afro puffs. 

At the time of hiring, employers in Connecticut must inform employees—in writing— about their wage rate, daily/weekly/monthly work hours, and wage payment schedules. Any changes to such employment policies must be relayed with a written or posted notice.

Work contracts are governed by the at-will employment policy in Connecticut, which means that an employer or employee can end a working relationship at any time and for any reason, without legal repercussions. 

However, certain exceptions apply. Employers cannot discharge an employee due to discriminatory or retaliatory reasons or in violation of public policy. State law also prohibits employee termination that violates an implied contract. This includes situations where an employer, through a written agreement, verbal commitment, or action, has assured not to terminate an employee without just cause.

The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) mandates employers with 100 or more workers in Connecticut to provide 60 days’ notice to employees before mass lay-offs and plant closures. Employees who are laid off must be paid their final wages by their next regularly scheduled payday. 

Similarly, a worker who voluntarily ends an employment contract must also be paid their final wage by the next payday. However, terminated employees must be paid all final wages by the next business day.

Some key regulations that govern employment contracts in Connecticut include:

• Workplace Safety Laws: The Connecticut Occupational Safety and Health Administration (CONN-OSHA) regulates workplace safety and health policies set by the federal OSH Act for state and municipal workers. Private sector businesses in Connecticut are covered by the US Department of Labor OSHA. However, CONN-OSHA provides both private and public sector employers with free on-site workplace safety consultations. These consultations help employers minimize workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities by identifying and addressing job hazards through actionable safety plans.
• Whistleblower Protection Laws: Connecticut’s Whistleblower Laws allow public and private sector employees to report misconduct, unethical practices, waste of funds and resources, hazards to public safety, or violations of the law to relevant authorities without the fear of retaliation. Employees are also protected from retaliation for taking part in investigations of such reports. 
• Background Check Laws: In Connecticut, employers who choose to conduct background checks on job applicants and employees must comply with the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Act also requires employers to inform applicants if they are rejected for a job due to their background report. Any dispute in an applicant’s background information must also be thoroughly investigated.  
• Social Media Use Laws: Connecticut’s Act Concerning Employee Online Privacy does not allow employers to request employees and job applicants to share their personal social media information such as login credentials, coerce them to access their personal social media in the employer’s presence, or accept invitations to join groups. Applicants and workers cannot be disciplined, terminated, or rejected from employment for refusing to share their personal account information. However, employers have the right to access all information on electronic devices that they have provided to employees or the ones used on the employer’s network for an ongoing investigation under federal or state law, given that such data would contribute to the investigation.
• Drug and Alcohol Testing Laws: In Connecticut, drug or alcohol tests can only be conducted under reasonable suspicion by the employer or during the pre-employment process. Private-sector employers are prohibited from administering random drug tests unless the job is classified as high-risk by the state Labor Commissioner.
• Health Insurance Continuation Laws: The federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) allows eligible employees and their dependents to retain their group health care coverage for up to 18 months after a qualifying life event. Qualifying life events include but are not limited to voluntarily or involuntarily job loss, reduction in work hours, the death of a spouse, or divorce. COBRA applies to employers with 20 or more employees and the employee may have to pay for 102% of the plan’s cost as a premium. For employers with less than 20 employees, Connecticut’s Mini-COBRA extends the same provisions as the federal COBRA for up to 30 months. Moreover, the plan’s premium is paid entirely by the employer. 
• Recordkeeping Laws: Employers in Connecticut must maintain employee records for three years. These records should include the employee’s name, home address, occupation, total daily and weekly hours worked (with start and end times rounded to the nearest 15 minutes), basic hourly, daily, or weekly wage, overtime wage (listed separately), additions and deductions from wages for each pay period, and total wages paid for each pay period. Employers who employ minors aged 16 to 18 must also retain their working certificates.

A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that an employer must pay an employee for work completed within a specific time frame. This amount cannot be further reduced with collective bargaining or mutual agreement between an employer and employee. 

Beginning January 1, 2025, Connecticut has increased its minimum wage to $16.35 per hour.

A tipped employee is a worker who customarily receives gratuities from customers as tips. Connecticut wage laws do not specify a specific monthly tip earnings threshold for a worker to be classified as a tipped employee. 

However, minimum wage requirements for tipped employees in Connecticut vary based on the worker’s occupation and are outlined as follows:

Note that employers are allowed to take tip credit. However, they must ensure that a tipped worker’s hourly cash wage and earned tips combine to equal the state minimum wage of $16.35 per hour. If not, the employer must make up the difference. 

Wage law in Connecticut allows employers to pay 85% of the applicable minimum wage to beginners, learners, and minors for the first 90 days of employment. Seasonal employees such as camp counselors are also not covered by minimum wage provisions of the state.

In Connecticut, employers must pay their employees weekly on a regularly scheduled payday. Employers may establish payment schedules less frequently than weekly with approval from the Labor Commissioner.

Any amount from an employee’s wage may not be withheld by an employer unless authorized by state or federal law, for medical or retirement plans, or by written consent of the employee approved by the Labor Commissioner. 

Overtime laws in Connecticut entitle employees to earn overtime wages if they work more than 40 hours in a workweek. This additional pay is calculated at 1.5 times an employee’s hourly wage rate. Employers are not required to pay overtime wages on a daily basis, on holidays, or on weekends unless stated in the employee’s employment contract.

For minimum wage workers in the state, overtime pay currently stands at $24.525 per hour. Learn more about an employee’s overtime rights in Connecticut. 

As of January 1, 2025, the FLSA categorizes any employee who earns at least $1,128 weekly or ($58,656 annually) as exempt i.e. they are not eligible to earn overtime pay even if they work overtime. This includes workers employed in administration, executive management, skilled professions that require advanced education, and outside sales.

Additionally, the following occupations are also considered exempt under state and federal law: 

• Agricultural workers
• Drivers or helpers regulated by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation for qualifications and hours of service
• Automobile salespersons primarily focused on selling vehicles

Learn more about Connecticut salaried employees laws.

Following Connecticut’s break laws, employees who work at least seven and a half hours are entitled to an unpaid 30-minute meal break. This break must be scheduled sometime after the first two hours and before the last two hours of the employee’s shift. Employers and employees can agree in writing to a different meal break schedule.

However, the Labor Commissioner can exempt employers from providing meal breaks if:

• Providing such a break poses a danger to public safety
• The job only has a single employee
• The employer has less than five employees on a shift at one location (applies only to that shift)
• The continuous nature of the employee’s job requires them to respond to urgent scenarios

In such cases, employees must be compensated for their missed breaks.

Lastly, meal breaks are not required for professionals certified by the State or regional board of education who work with children.

In Connecticut, nursing employees are entitled to use their meal and break times to express milk or breastfeed at work without fear of employer retaliation.

For this purpose, employers are legally required to provide a private, intrusion-free room in or near the workplace. This room must also provide access to a refrigerator or cold storage for the employee to store pumped milk as well as access to an electrical outlet. 

However, employers are exempt from providing these facilities if doing so creates undue hardship for their business.  

Connecticut’s leave laws entitle employees to several leave benefits, including:

• Paid Sick Leave: Starting January 1, 2025, employees working in businesses with 25 or more workers are entitled to receive paid sick leave in Connecticut. Paid sick leave accrual is at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours of work with a maximum of 40 hours accrued per calendar year. They can also carry over 40 hours of unused paid sick leave from one year to the next. Workers can use paid sick leave to care for their own or a family member’s illness, recover from family violence or sexual assault, or take leave during a public health emergency declared by officials. Note that paid sick leave laws will be further expanded to apply to all employers in Connecticut from January 1, 2027.
• Jury and Witness Leave: In Connecticut, full-time employees can take five days of paid, job-protected leave to serve on a jury. An employee who serves eight hours of jury duty in a day is considered to have completed a day’s work and cannot be required to work additional hours by their employer. A worker can also take unpaid leave if they have been summoned as a witness to court or if they are required to participate in a legal or police investigation where they are a victim.
• Voting Time Leave: Employees can take two hours of unpaid leave to vote in state or federal elections. However, prior to taking voting leave in Connecticut, an employee must request leave from their boss two days before election day. 
• Family and Medical Leave: The Connecticut Family and Medical Leave Act mandates employers with one or more employees to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave for qualifying medical and family reasons, including the birth and care of a child, the placement and care of an adopted or foster child, caring for their own or a family member’s serious health condition, serving as an organ or bone marrow donor, managing emergencies related to a family member’s active-duty military service. Workers can take an additional two weeks of leave to address a health issue arising during pregnancy. They can also take an additional 14 weeks of leave to care for a family member or next of kin with a serious injury or illness sustained during active military duty.
• Donation Leave: Only state employees in Connecticut can take 15 days of paid leave after organ donation and seven days of paid leave after a bone marrow transplant.

The following public holidays will be observed in Connecticut for the year 2025:

State law defines a minor as an individual under the age of 18 who is enrolled in a secondary education school.

Work Permits for Minors in Connecticut

In Connecticut, minors seeking employment must obtain a Certificate of Age Form to provide to their employer. This form is issued by authorized personnel from local or regional school districts who ensure that the documents provided by the minor are authentic.

Once the minor’s age is verified, the employer must issue a written “Promise of Employment” letter. This document should include the address of the physical location where the minor will work, their exact hourly wage, maximum work hours per week, their manager’s name and signature, the business’s contact information, and a complete list of the tasks that will be performed by the minor.

Connecticut law outlines different work hour restrictions for minors aged 16 and 17. Note that these requirements vary based on the minor’s occupation. These guidelines are as follows:

When School is in Session

Minors enrolled in a secondary school and have not graduated yet can work up to six hours daily with a weekly maximum of 32 hours. Work hours can be extended to eight on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. 

However, based on the minor’s occupation, work hours can only be scheduled within specific time frames, which are described below:

• For minors employed in restaurants, recreational establishments, or amusement and theatre parks: They can only be scheduled to work between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. They may work until midnight on days preceding a non-school day or when they are not required to attend school the following day.
• For minors working in manufacturing and mechanical facilities, retail, bowling alleys, pool halls, photography galleries, or as hairdressers: They can only work between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Minors working in manufacturing or mechanical jobs can work until 11 p.m. on days before a non-school day, if they are not required to attend school the next day, or during vacations. Minors employed in retail can work until 11 p.m. during school vacations, non-school nights, or if not attending school, and until midnight in supermarkets over 3,500 square feet when there is no school the next day

During Summer Break

Minors working in Connecticut can work a maximum of eight hours daily and 48 hours weekly when school is not in session, regardless of their occupation.

Minors under the age of 16 cannot be employed in the following occupations in Connecticut:

However, minors who have graduated high school can work in occupations prohibited by state law but are still not allowed to work in professions banned by federal law which include: