Connecticut employers who have laid off staff will have to give preference to those same workers when jobs become available again and recall them in order of seniority, according to legislation signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont this week.
SB 658, passed by the Senate last month, is specifically tailored to those thrown out of work by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic aftershocks. It requires that businesses notify former employees terminated between March 2020 and May 2022 of new openings and rehire them in order of seniority if those workers are interested in returning.
Ex-employees qualify for notification if they held the same job before being laid off or if they could be qualified for the position after undergoing the same training offered to an entirely new hire. They have up to five days to accept or reject the offer, after which their former employer can consider the offer declined.
The provisions apply only to staff members let go due to a lack of business stemming from the pandemic or the state government’s COVID-19-related emergency orders, not former employees fired for cause.
Employers that decline to rehire a laid-off employee for a lack of qualifications and hire an individual with no history with the company are required to send the ex-employee a notice within 30 days explaining their decision.
According to the state Department of Labor, Connecticut shed approximately 292,400 jobs between March and April of 2020 when the state went into lockdown. As of May 2021, Connecticut had recovered about 63% of those positions.
