HB 5496

General Assembly  Substitute Bill No. 5496
   February Session, 2026
 AN ACT CONCERNING WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PROTECTIONS
 FOR UTILITY AND PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEES.
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
 Assembly convened:
1Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2026) (a) For purposes of this
2    section and section 2 of this act:
3(1) "Employer" means a (A) municipal utility furnishing electric, gas
4    or water, (B) regional water authority, (C) regional sewer district, (D)
5    public service company, or (E) municipal public works department;
6(2) "Public service company" has the same meaning as provided in
7    section 16-1 of the general statutes; and
8      (3) "Workplace violence" means any act or threat of physical violence,
9   harassment, intimidation or other threatening disruptive behavior that
10   occurs at a work site. "Workplace violence" does not include any such
11   act or threat that occurs at the site of an employer.
12      (b) On or before January 1, 2027, each employer shall undertake a risk
13   assessment of the factors that may place employees who provide
14   services directly to customers at risk of being a victim of workplace
15   violence by virtue of their role as an employee of such employer,
16   including, but not limited to, (1) working directly with customers in
17   their domicile, (2) working late nights or early morning hours, (3)
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18 exchanging money with customers, (4) working alone or in small
19 numbers, (5) customers with a previous history of violence toward
20 employees, and (6) the crime rate for the municipality in which the
21 employee will provide services, as determined by the most recent
22 annual report concerning crime in the state issued by the Department of
23 Emergency Services and Public Protection pursuant to section 29-1c of
24 the general statutes.
25    (c) On or before July 1, 2027, each employer shall develop and
26 implement a workplace violence prevention and response training
27 program for employees who provide services directly to customers.
28 Such training program shall include, but need not be limited to, training
29 on (1) the risk factors identified pursuant to subsection (b) of this section,
30 (2) methods the employer will use to prevent incidents of workplace
31 violence, including, but not limited to, (A) utilizing methods to
32 minimize the amount of cash on an employee's person during a work
33 shift, and (B) establishing and implementing reporting systems for
34 incidents of violent or aggressive behavior, (3) conflict resolution and
35 nonviolent self-defense responses, and (4) measures employees can take
36 to protect themselves from such risks. Such training program shall be
37 provided to an employee upon hire and annually thereafter.
38    Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2026) Each employer shall maintain
39 records that detail each incidence of workplace violence and include the
40 specific location in which such incident occurred. An employer shall,
41 not later than January first of each year, submit a report to the Labor
42 Department regarding the number of workplace violence incidents that
43 occurred during the preceding calendar year and the specific location
44 where such incidents occurred.
  This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
  sections:
  Section 1      October 1, 2026  New section
  Sec. 2  October 1, 2026  New section
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LAB   Joint Favorable Subst.
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