The settlement, reached in late-April with the Attorney General and supported by the Malloy Administration, was a tremendous victory not just for state employees, but for all workers. The agreement brought closure to a 12-year struggle to uphold Constitutional rights to freedom of speech and association that are fundamental to workplace democracy.
Click here for our previous report on the settlement.
The General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Judiciary in May took up the settlement for review in what was the first step in the formal approval process. Both the state House and Senate resolutions on the agreement passed favorably and with bi-partisan support.
Click here to watch the committee’s deliberations.
Click here for press coverage of the agreement.
Funding for the agreement — $20,700,000 in fiscal year (FY) 2016 and $4,722,000 in FY 2017 — was included in the state budget passed on the final day of the legislature’s regular session. On June 11, 30 days after it was filed with the House and Senate Clerks, the settlement was considered formally approved by the General Assembly.
Next the settlement goes to federal court for review and final approval. A hearing on the matter is expected to be held in September or October and affected class members will receive advance notice advising of the date and their rights.
That’s why the attorneys representing the plaintiffs and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) are working with state representatives to finalize the list of potential class members. The goal is to make sure that affected state workers receive the proper award from the settlement.
To be considered part of the class, individuals must have been employed by the State of Connecticut and a member of a bargaining unit (or, if under a working test period or training program, designated for bargaining unit membership upon completion) as of November 17, 2002.
Click here for the “questions and answers” document prepared in April that details the process of determining individual state workers’ entitlement under the settlement.
Click here for a supplemental “Q & A” document that addresses additional concerns.
Compensation under the settlement will depend on whether class members were laid off, “bumped” to a different position within the state workforce, or suffered some other adverse job-related consequence. All members are entitled to receive compensation for the chilling of their rights to freedom of speech and association as a result of the former governor’s anti-union animus.
Click here for the attorneys’ SEBAC class action home page where future updates will be posted.
