Bill Text: CT HB07083 | 2017 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning Probate Court Employees.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-17 - Public Hearing 02/21 [HB07083 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2017-HB07083-Introduced.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 7083
January Session, 2017		LCO No. 4070
		*04070_______LAB*
Referred to Committee on LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
Introduced by:
(LAB)

AN ACT CONCERNING PROBATE COURT EMPLOYEES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Subsection (g) of section 45a-8a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2017):

(g) Each administrative judge for a regional children's probate court may, with the approval of the Probate Court Administrator, employ such persons as may be required for the efficient operation of the regional children's probate court. Such employees shall be employees of the regional children's probate court and shall be entitled to the benefits of probate court employees under this chapter. Such employees shall not be deemed to be state employees except for purposes of chapter 68.

Sec. 2. Section 45a-21 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2017):

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, Probate Court employees shall not be deemed state employees and shall serve at the pleasure of the judge of the court of probate in which they are employed.

(b) On and after October 1, 2017, Probate Court employees shall be deemed state employees for purposes of chapter 68.

Sec. 3. Section 5-270 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2017):

When used in this section and sections [5-270] 5-271 to 5-280, inclusive:

(a) "Employer" means the state of Connecticut, its executive and judicial branches, including, without limitation, any board, department, commission, institution, or agency of such branches or any appropriate unit thereof and any board of trustees of a state-owned or supported college or university and branches thereof, public and quasi-public state corporation, or authority established by state law, the Probate Court, or any person or persons designated by the employer to act in its interest in dealing with employees, but shall not include the State Board of Labor Relations or the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration.

(b) "Employee" means any employee of an employer, whether or not in the classified service of the employer, except elected or appointed officials other than special deputy sheriffs, board and commission members, disability policy specialists assigned to the Council on Developmental Disabilities, managerial employees and confidential employees.

(c) "Professional employee" means: (1) Any employee engaged in work (A) predominantly intellectual and varied in character as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work; (B) involving the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment in its performance; (C) of such a character that the output produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given time period; (D) requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction and study in an institution of higher learning or a hospital, as distinguished from a general academic education or from an apprenticeship or from training in the performance of routine mental, manual or physical processes; or (2) any employee who has completed the courses of specialized intellectual instruction and study described in subsection (c)(1)(D) and is performing related work under the supervision of a professional person to qualify himself to become a professional employee as defined in subsection (c)(1).

(d) "Employee organization" means any lawful association, labor organization, federation or council having as a primary purpose the improvement of wages, hours and other conditions of employment among state employees.

(e) "Confidential employee" means any public employee who would have access to confidential information used in collective bargaining.

(f) "Supervisory employee" means any individual in a position in which the principal functions are characterized by not fewer than two of the following: (1) Performing such management control duties as scheduling, assigning, overseeing and reviewing the work of subordinate employees; (2) performing such duties as are distinct and dissimilar from those performed by the employees supervised; (3) exercising judgment in adjusting grievances, applying other established personnel policies and procedures and in enforcing the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement; and (4) establishing or participating in the establishment of performance standards for subordinate employees and taking corrective measures to implement those standards, provided in connection with any of the foregoing the exercise of such authority is not merely of a routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment, and such individuals shall be employees within the meaning of subsection (b) of this section. The above criteria for supervisory positions shall not necessarily apply to police or fire departments.

(g) "Managerial employee" means any individual in a position in which the principal functions are characterized by not fewer than two of the following, provided for any position in any unit of the system of higher education, one of such two functions shall be as specified in subdivision (4) of this subsection: (1) Responsibility for direction of a subunit or facility of a major division of an agency or assignment to an agency head's staff; (2) development, implementation and evaluation of goals and objectives consistent with agency mission and policy; (3) participation in the formulation of agency policy; or (4) a major role in the administration of collective bargaining agreements or major personnel decisions, or both, including staffing, hiring, firing, evaluation, promotion and training of employees.

Sec. 4. Subsection (a) of section 5-278 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2017):

(a) When an employee organization has been designated, in accordance with the provisions of sections 5-270 to 5-280, inclusive, as amended by this act, as the exclusive representative of employees in an appropriate unit, the employer shall be represented in collective bargaining with such employee organization in the following manner: (1) In the case of an executive branch employer, including the Division of Criminal Justice, by the chief executive officer whether elected or appointed, or his designated representative; who shall maintain a close liaison with the legislature relative to the negotiations and the potential fiscal ramifications of any proposed settlement; (2) in the case of a judicial branch employer, by the Chief Court Administrator or his designated representative; [and] (3) in the case of each segment of the system of higher education, the faculty and professional employees shall negotiate with their own board of trustees or its designated representative; and (4) in the case of a Probate Court employer, by the Probate Court Administrator or his designated representative.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	October 1, 2017	45a-8a(g)
Sec. 2	October 1, 2017	45a-21
Sec. 3	October 1, 2017	5-270
Sec. 4	October 1, 2017	5-278(a)

Statement of Purpose:

To allow Probate Court employees to negotiate jointly for the purpose of wages and benefits.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]