Connecticut Workplace Harassment Laws: 1-Employee Rule, 300 Days

Workplace harassment based on sex or gender identity or expression is a discriminatory practice in Connecticut under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-60(b)(8), and since October 1, 2022 the state's fair employment law treats any person or employer with one or more employees as an employer (§ 46a-51(10)). Harassment because of race, religious creed, age, disability, national origin and the other protected traits has no separate harassment clause; it falls under the general ban on discrimination in the "terms, conditions or privileges of employment" in § 46a-60(b)(1).

These rules sit in the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act, Chapter 814c of the General Statutes, and the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) takes complaints. Connecticut also requires sexual harassment training for most employers and has a separate statute protecting unpaid interns. For other states, see workplace harassment laws by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-20. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Connecticut state law on workplace harassment by employers, supervisors and coworkers under the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act (Conn. Gen. Stat. Chapter 814c, chiefly §§ 46a-51, 46a-54, 46a-60, 46a-81c, 46a-82, 46a-97 and 46a-101 to 46a-104) and the intern statute, § 31-40y. It does not cover wrongful firing or the full complaint and lawsuit procedure (see Connecticut wrongful termination), damages estimates, criminal harassment or stalking, harassment outside employment, or federal-employee procedure.

Connecticut harassment rules at a glance

What Connecticut law prohibits

Connecticut has an express harassment clause for sex and gender identity or expression, and a general discrimination clause that carries harassment on every other protected trait.

Sexual harassment and gender-based harassment: § 46a-60(b)(8)

Section 46a-60(b)(8) makes it a discriminatory practice for an employer, by the employer or the employer's agent, for an employment agency, or for a labor organization "to harass any employee, person seeking employment or member on the basis of sex or gender identity or expression." The same subdivision defines sexual harassment:

"'sexual harassment' means any unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors or any conduct of a sexual nature when (A) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, (B) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (C) such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment" (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-60(b)(8))

Parts (A) and (B) describe what is often called quid pro quo harassment, where job decisions turn on submission to sexual conduct. Part (C) describes a hostile working environment.

Harassment on other traits: § 46a-60(b)(1)

For race, religious creed, age, disability, national origin and the other listed traits, the act has no clause that uses the word harass. A harassment claim on those grounds rests on § 46a-60(b)(1), which makes it a discriminatory practice for an employer, except in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification or need, "to discriminate against any individual in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment" because of a listed trait. Sexual orientation and civil union status are covered by the same kind of terms-and-conditions clause in a separate section, § 46a-81c(1).

The legal standard for a hostile work environment

The statute's own test for sexual harassment is the language in § 46a-60(b)(8)(C): conduct that has "the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment."

Connecticut courts read the act alongside federal law. In Brittell v. Department of Correction, 247 Conn. 148 (1998), the Connecticut Supreme Court wrote that "in defining the contours of an employer's duties under our state antidiscrimination statutes, we have looked for guidance to federal case law interpreting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." The court applied the federal hostile-environment test, under which "the workplace [must be] permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim's employment and create an abusive working environment." That severe-or-pervasive wording comes from the court's opinion, not from the statute, and the decision predates the 2019 amendments to § 46a-60(b)(8).

Which Connecticut employers are covered

Section 46a-51(10) provides that "employer" includes "the state and all political subdivisions thereof and means any person or employer with one or more persons in such person's or employer's employ." Public Act 22-82, effective October 1, 2022, lowered that number from three to one. In Connecticut the same one-employee line applies to harassment claims and to other discrimination claims under the act.

The training and posting duties use a different number: three or more employees (see the training section below).

Who is protected

• Employees and applicants: § 46a-60(b)(8) protects "any employee, person seeking employment or member" of a labor organization. "Employee" means any person employed by an employer, but not an individual employed by the individual's parents, spouse or child; it includes elected and appointed municipal officials (§ 46a-51(9)).
• Unpaid interns: Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-40y(b)(4) provides that no employer or agent of an employer shall "engage in any sexual harassment toward any intern or individual seeking an internship." A violation of § 31-40y is a "discriminatory practice" under § 46a-51(8), so it can be the subject of a CHRO complaint under § 46a-82.
• Contractors and volunteers: § 46a-51(9) defines an employee as a person employed by an employer, and § 46a-60(b)(8) contains no clause extending its protection to independent contractors or volunteers.

Protected traits in Connecticut

Section 46a-60(b)(1), as amended effective October 1, 2025, lists race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability, physical disability (including, but not limited to, blindness), status as a veteran, status as a victim of domestic violence, status as a victim of sexual assault and status as a victim of trafficking in persons. The act lists age without a minimum age; the former definition limiting age to forty through sixty-five was deleted by P.A. 75-350. Other provisions add to that list:

• Sexual orientation and civil union status: § 46a-81c(1) bars discrimination "in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of the individual's sexual orientation or civil union status."
• Hair texture and protective hairstyles: "Race" is "inclusive of ethnic traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles" (§ 46a-51(23)), and protective hairstyles include "wigs, headwraps and hairstyles such as individual braids, cornrows, locs, twists, Bantu knots, afros and afro puffs" (§ 46a-51(24)), since P.A. 21-2 (2021).
• Sexual assault and trafficking victims: Public Act 25-139, § 6, added these two classes to § 46a-60(b), effective October 1, 2025.
• Pregnancy: § 46a-60(b)(7)(F) bars an employer from discriminating against an employee or applicant "on the basis of her pregnancy in the terms or conditions of her employment," and § 46a-51(17) defines discrimination on the basis of sex to include discrimination related to pregnancy, child-bearing capacity, sterilization, fertility or related medical conditions.
• Genetic information: § 46a-60(b)(11) bars an employer from requesting or requiring genetic information or discriminating against any person "on the basis of genetic information."

Employer responsibility and the individual harasser

The statute adds one rule about how an employer responds. Under § 46a-60(b)(8), "if an employer takes immediate corrective action in response to an employee's claim of sexual harassment, such corrective action shall not modify the conditions of employment of the employee making the claim of sexual harassment unless such employee agrees, in writing, to any modification in the conditions of employment."

Beyond that, the act itself does not set out when an employer is responsible for harassment by a supervisor, a coworker or a non-employee, and the Connecticut Supreme Court looks to federal Title VII case law. In O'Reggio v. Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, 350 Conn. 182 (2024), the court held that the federal Vance definition "is applicable to claims filed under the state act": for vicarious liability, a supervisor is an employee "empowered by the employer to take tangible employment actions against the victim." Describing the federal framework it followed, the court explained that when the harasser is a coworker, "the employer is liable only if the victim can show the employer was negligent in failing to prevent harassment from taking place."

On personal liability, the Connecticut Supreme Court held in Perodeau v. City of Hartford, 259 Conn. 729 (2002), that the employer-size phrase then in § 46a-51(10), "with three or more persons in his employ," modified both "person" and "employer," "and, consequently, that § 46a-60 (a) (1) does not impose liability on individual employees." That decision addressed the general discrimination clause under the old three-person wording; the definition now reads "one or more persons." The court also rested its conclusion on policy reasons drawn from other courts' decisions, writing "For all of these reasons" in reaching it. Separately, § 46a-60(b)(5) makes it a discriminatory practice "for any person, whether an employer or an employee or not, to aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any act declared to be a discriminatory employment practice or to attempt to do so."

Retaliation for complaining

Section 46a-60(b)(4) makes it a discriminatory practice "for any person, employer, labor organization or employment agency to discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person because such person has opposed any discriminatory employment practice or because such person has filed a complaint or testified or assisted in any proceeding under section 46a-82, 46a-83 or 46a-84." How a firing after a complaint fits with the state's default employment rule is covered on the Connecticut at-will employment and Connecticut wrongful termination pages.

Deadlines and where to file

The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities takes complaints under the act. Harassment complaints follow the same deadlines as other discrimination complaints.

• CHRO complaint: "Any complaint filed pursuant to this section for an alleged act of discrimination that occurred on or after October 1, 2021, shall be filed within three hundred days after the date of the alleged act of discrimination" (§ 46a-82(f)(2)). The complaint must be in writing under oath (§ 46a-82(a)).
• Release to sue: the complainant may request a release from the commission "if the complaint is still pending after the expiration of one hundred eighty days from the date of its filing or after a case assessment review," whichever is earlier (§ 46a-101(b)).
• Court deadline: an action "shall be brought not later than ninety days after the date of the receipt of the release from the commission" (§ 46a-101(e)) and "within two years of the date of filing of the complaint with the commission" (§ 46a-102).
• Interns: a violation of § 31-40y is a discriminatory practice (§ 46a-51(8)), so a complaint about it goes to the CHRO under § 46a-82, whose 300-day period applies to "any complaint filed pursuant to this section" for an act on or after October 1, 2021 (§ 46a-82(f)(2)).
• Federal charge: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to employers with 15 or more employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks (42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b)), and the EEOC states that its "180 calendar day filing deadline is extended to 300 calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis." The EEOC's Boston Area Office, which lists the CHRO as a fair employment practices agency, states that an individual has 300 days from the date of alleged harm to file a charge against a Connecticut employer with 15 or more employees for discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion or disability.

The full procedure between filing and suit is on the Connecticut wrongful termination page, along with remedies (including the court's power under § 46a-104 to award punitive damages, attorney's fees and costs). The Connecticut employment discrimination settlement calculator is an estimating tool, not a prediction of any outcome.

Harassment training and notice requirements

Section 46a-54(15) gives the CHRO power to require an employer "having three or more employees" to:

1. Post "in a prominent and accessible location information concerning the illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available to victims of sexual harassment";
2. Provide, "not later than three months after the employee's start date with the employer," a copy of that information to each employee by electronic mail; and
3. Provide two hours of training and education to employees.

The statute sets the timing by employer size. An employer having "three or more employees, shall provide such training and education to an employee hired on or after October 1, 2019, not later than six months after the date of his or her hire," while an employer having "less than three employees shall provide such training and education to all supervisory employees," and to all new supervisory employees "within six months of their assumption of a supervisory position." An employer may count CHRO in-person or free online training that an employee took while employed by a different employer within the two years before hire. An employer required to train "shall provide periodic supplemental training that updates all supervisory and nonsupervisory employees on the content of such training and education not less than every ten years."

An employer that fails to provide the required training "shall be fined not more than seven hundred fifty dollars" (§ 46a-97(c)). The CHRO must "make available at no cost to employers an online training and education video or other interactive method of training and education that fulfills the requirements" of § 46a-54(15) (§ 46a-56(a)(8)).

NDAs, confidentiality and settlements

Chapter 814c and Chapter 557 (the general employment regulation chapter) contain no provision limiting nondisclosure or confidentiality terms in private employment or settlement agreements about harassment. The one Connecticut rule on this subject applies to public agencies: under § 1-214a, a public agency's agreement with an employee or personal services contractor for termination, suspension or separation that contains a confidentiality provision restricting disclosure of the agreement or its cause, "including, but not limited to, alleged or substantiated sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation or sexual assault," is subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

A 2026 bill, Substitute S.B. 355, "An Act Concerning Limitations on the Use of Nondisclosure Agreements," was reported favorably by committee; its last recorded action, on April 13, 2026, reads "Favorable Report, Tabled for the Calendar, Senate," and it carries no public act number. It is not Connecticut law.

Federal law adds limits for sexual harassment disputes: the Speak Out Act makes nondisclosure and nondisparagement clauses agreed to before a sexual harassment dispute arises judicially unenforceable where the conduct is alleged to violate federal, tribal or state law, and the Ending Forced Arbitration Act lets the person alleging sexual harassment elect court over a predispute arbitration agreement, both explained on the workplace harassment laws hub.

Is workplace bullying illegal in Connecticut?

The Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act reaches harassment and discrimination tied to the traits it lists. Its harassment provisions, § 46a-60(b)(8) and the posting and training rules, and the intern statute, § 31-40y, contain no rule on general workplace bullying that is unconnected to those traits.

Documenting harassment and workplace monitoring

Connecticut's rules on recording a conversation at work, including a conversation with a harasser, are on the Connecticut workplace recording laws page. Employer monitoring of email, devices and workspaces is covered on the Connecticut employee monitoring laws page.

Recent changes to Connecticut harassment law

• 2011: P.A. 11-55 added gender identity or expression to the harassment clause in § 46a-60(b)(8).
• 2019: P.A. 19-16 extended the sexual harassment training mandate in § 46a-54(15) to employers with three or more employees, added punitive damages to § 46a-104 and, with P.A. 19-93, added the corrective-action rule to § 46a-60(b)(8).
• 2021: P.A. 21-2 added hair texture and protective hairstyles to the definition of race (§ 46a-51(23)-(24)), effective March 4, 2021. The 300-day CHRO deadline in § 46a-82(f)(2) applies to acts on or after October 1, 2021.
• 2022: P.A. 22-82, § 7, lowered the employer threshold in § 46a-51(10) from three employees to one, effective October 1, 2022.
• 2025: P.A. 25-139, § 6, added status as a victim of sexual assault and status as a victim of trafficking in persons to § 46a-60(b), effective October 1, 2025.
• 2026: P.A. 26-15, §§ 13-14, effective October 1, 2026, amends § 46a-60(b) and § 46a-81c to provide that the use of an automated employment-related decision technology is not a defense to a discrimination complaint under § 46a-60(b)(1) or § 46a-81c(1); the harassment clause in § 46a-60(b)(8) is unchanged. Substitute S.B. 355 on nondisclosure agreements was tabled for the Senate calendar on April 13, 2026 and did not receive a public act number.

Related pages

• Workplace harassment laws by state
• Connecticut wrongful termination
• Connecticut at-will employment laws
• Connecticut employee monitoring laws
• Connecticut workplace recording laws

This article provides general legal information about Connecticut workplace harassment law under the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act and related statutes as of 2026-10-20. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Connecticut or the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.

Last updated: 2026-10-20.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is workplace harassment illegal in Connecticut?

Yes. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-60(b)(8) makes it a discriminatory practice for an employer to harass an employee or applicant on the basis of sex or gender identity or expression, and harassment on other protected traits falls under the terms-and-conditions clause in § 46a-60(b)(1).

Does Connecticut harassment law apply to small employers?

Yes. Since October 1, 2022, an employer under the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act is any person or employer with one or more employees, including the state and its political subdivisions (§ 46a-51(10)). The full-workforce training mandate applies separately to employers with three or more employees.

How long do I have to file a harassment complaint with the CHRO?

For an alleged act on or after October 1, 2021, a complaint must be filed with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities within 300 days after the date of the alleged act (§ 46a-82(f)(2)). A court action requires a release from the commission and must be filed within 90 days of receiving it and within two years of filing the complaint (§§ 46a-101(e), 46a-102).

How often is sexual harassment training required in Connecticut?

Employers with three or more employees must give two hours of training to employees hired on or after October 1, 2019, within six months of hire, and must provide supplemental training to all supervisory and nonsupervisory employees at least every ten years (§ 46a-54(15)). Employers with fewer than three employees must train supervisory employees, including new supervisors within six months of taking the role.

What is the penalty for not providing harassment training in Connecticut?

An employer that fails to provide the training required by § 46a-54(15) shall be fined not more than $750 (§ 46a-97(c)). The CHRO must make a free online training video or other interactive training available to employers (§ 46a-56(a)(8)).

Can a coworker or supervisor be sued personally for harassment in Connecticut?

In Perodeau v. City of Hartford (2002), the Connecticut Supreme Court held that § 46a-60(a)(1) does not impose liability on individual employees, relying on the act's employer definition as it then read and on policy reasons drawn from other courts' decisions. Separately, § 46a-60(b)(5) makes it a discriminatory practice for any person, whether an employer or an employee or not, to aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce a discriminatory employment practice.

Are unpaid interns protected from sexual harassment in Connecticut?

Yes. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-40y(b)(4) bars an employer or its agent from engaging in sexual harassment toward an intern or an individual seeking an internship, and a violation is a discriminatory practice that may be brought to the CHRO (§ 46a-51(8)).

Does Connecticut limit NDAs in harassment settlements?

Chapters 814c and 557 contain no provision limiting nondisclosure terms in private agreements. Section 1-214a makes a public agency's separation agreement with a confidentiality provision subject to public disclosure, including where the cause involves alleged sexual harassment.

Is workplace bullying illegal in Connecticut?

The Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act reaches harassment and discrimination tied to the traits it lists. Its harassment provisions contain no rule on general workplace bullying that is unconnected to those traits.