Connecticut Education Law Blog : Connecticut Education Lawyer & Attorney : Berchem, Moses & Devlin Law Firm : CT Public Schools

Educators and other interested parties may wish to contact the Education Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly to express support for SB 1142, An Act Concerning Relief of State Mandates on School Districts.  Among other provisions, this bill would finally bring Connecticut in line with other states and with the 2005 United States Supreme Court decision in Schaffer v. Weast, which held that under IDEA, the burden of proof in a special education due process hearing should be on the party requesting the hearing.  Despite this Supreme Court decision, since 2005, Connecticut has failed to remove the provision placing the burden of proof on the school district from the state regulations concerning special education hearings, thereby sending the message to school districts that the programs they develop for children with disabilities should be considered inappropriate unless the school district proves otherwise.  Placing the burden of proof on the school district drives up the administrative costs of special education by causing hearings to be longer and more expensive, since every allegation made by a parent needs to be "disproved" by the school district.  Perhaps more importantly, there is no correlation between the burden of proof being imposed on the school district and improvement in the quality of services provided to children with special needs.  On the contrary, the burden imposed on school districts by lengthy and costly special education hearings often drives talented educators out of the public schools.

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In a move patterned after the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, which would apply to private sector employees, the General Assembly’s Labor and Public Employees Committee recently voted favorably (9-2) on a bill that would allow state and municipal employees to unionize without the use of a secret ballot election. HB-6534 would permit a union of public employees to be recognized as the exclusive representative of an employee unit when a majority of the employees sign union authorization cards. The card authorization process would be triggered when (1) a petition for unionization if filed with the State Labor Relations Board, (2) there is a question or controversy regarding union representation, and (3) there is only one union seeking the designation. At that point, a Labor Board agent would investigate and report his or her findings to the Board. The Board, after providing the parties the opportunity to submit briefs, could determine to certify the union based on a card check alone.

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   Recently the United States Department of Labor promulgated new regulations under the Family Medical Leave Act. School boards should review their policies to assure continued compliance with the FMLA. 

            Noteworthy highlights from the new regulations include:

(1)       Military caregiver leave: Expands FMLA protections for family members caring for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty on active duty. These family members are able to take up to 26 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period.

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The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (“COBRA”) provides for a temporary extension of employer-provided group health coverage, which is commonly referred to as COBRA continuation coverage. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“Act”), which President Obama signed on February 17, 2009, includes several changes to COBRA continuation coverage that employers quickly need to address. The most notable impact is a significant reduction in the COBRA premiums paid by certain employees whose employment is involuntarily terminated. Under the Act, eligible individuals are required to pay only 35% of his or her COBRA premium. The remaining 65% of the COBRA premium will be reimbursed to the employer through a payroll tax credit.

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Legislation winding its way through the General Assembly could mandate that local and regional boards of education employ automatic external defibrillators as soon as July 1, 2009. In fact, S.B. 981 as proposed requires schools to train personnel in defibrillator operation and in the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation at each school under the board’s jurisdiction. In addition, a defibrillator and trained personnel would be required to be accessible during the school’s normal hours of operations, during school-sponsored athletic practices and athletic events that take place on schools grounds, and during school sponsored events that occur before or after normal operational hours. 

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