AN ACT CONCERNING WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PROTECTIONS FOR UTILITY AND PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEES.

House of Representatives
sHB5496 / File No. 396 1

General Assembly File No. 396
February Session, 2026 Substitute House Bill No. 5496

House of Representatives, April 2, 2026

The Committee on Labor and Public Employees reported
through REP. SANCHEZ, E. of the 24th Dist., Chairperson of
the Committee on the part of the House, that the substitute bill
ought to pass.

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:

Section 1. (NEW) ( Effective October 1, 2026 ) (a) For purposes of this 1
section and section 2 of this act: 2
(1) "Employer" means a (A) municipal utility furnishing electric, gas 3
or water, (B) regional water authority, (C) regional sewer district, (D) 4
public service company, or (E) municipal public works department; 5
(2) "Public service company" has the same meaning as provided in 6
section 16-1 of the general statutes; and 7
(3) "Workplace violence" means any act or threat of physical violence, 8
harassment, intimidation or other threatening disruptive behavior that 9
occurs at a work site. "Workplace violence" does not include any such 10
act or threat that occurs at the site of an employer. 11
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(b) On or before January 1, 2027, each employer shall undertake a risk 12
assessment of the factors that may place employees who provide 13
services directly to customers at risk of being a victim of workplace 14
violence by virtue of their role as an employee of such employer, 15
including, but not limited to, (1) working directly with customers in 16
their domicile, (2) working late nights or early morning hours, (3) 17
exchanging money with customers, (4) working alone or in small 18
numbers, (5) customers with a previous history of violence toward 19
employees, and (6) the crime rate for the municipality in which the 20
employee will provide services, as determined by the most recent 21
annual report concerning crime in the state issued by the Department of 22
Emergency Services and Public Protection pursuant to section 29 -1c of 23
the general statutes. 24
(c) On or before July 1, 2027, each employer shall develop and 25
implement a workplace violence prevention and response training 26
program for employees who provide services directly to customers. 27
Such training program shall include, but need not be limited to, training 28
on (1) the risk factors identified pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, 29
(2) methods the employer will use to prevent incidents of workplace 30
violence, including, but not limited to, (A) utilizing methods to 31
minimize the amount of cash on an employee's person during a work 32
shift, and (B) establishing and implementing reporting systems for 33
incidents of violent or aggressive behavior, (3) conflict resolution and 34
nonviolent self-defense responses, and (4) measures employees can take 35
to protect themselves from such risks. Such training program shall be 36
provided to an employee upon hire and annually thereafter. 37
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2026) Each employer shall maintain 38
records that detail each incidence of workplace violence and include the 39
specific location in which such incident occurred. An employer shall, 40
not later than January first of each year, submit a report to the Labor 41
Department regarding the number of workplace violence incidents that 42
occurred during the preceding calendar year and the specific location 43
where such incidents occurred. 44
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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

LAB Joint Favorable Subst.

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The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of
the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not
represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general,
fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional
knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final
products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note

State Impact: None
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 27 $ FY 28 $
All Municipalities; Municipal
Water Companies
STATE
MANDATE1
- Potential
Cost
See Below See Below

Explanation
The bill requires municipal employers to conduct a risk assessment
for utility and public works employees. This results in a potential cost
to municipalities beginning in FY 27 that is dependent on what
resources are necessary to conduct a risk assessment that meets the
requirements of the bill.
The bill also requires that certain employers maintain records of
workplace violence incidents and submit the number of occurrences
annually to the Department of Labor. This does not result in any fiscal
impact to the state.

The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would

1 State mandate is defined in Sec. 2 -32b(2) of the Connecticut General Statutes, "state
mandate" means any state initiated constitutional, statutory or executive action that
requires a local government to establish, expand or modify its activities in such a way
as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues.
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continue into the future subject to resources necessary to conduct risk
assessments.

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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 5496

AN ACT CONCERNING WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PROTECTIONS
FOR UTILITY AND PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEES.

SUMMARY
This bill requires utility companies to assess the factors that may
place their employees at risk of being a workplace violence victim when
providing services directly to customers (such as when working directly
with customers in their homes or with customers who have a previous
history of violence toward employees ). It requires the companies to
develop and implement workplace violence prevention and response
training for these employees that includes, among other things, the
company’s methods for preventing workplace violence incidents , and
conflict resolution and non-violent self-defense responses.
The bill requires the companies to (1) maintain records that detail
each incidence of workplace violence and include the specific location
where it occurred and (2) give the Department of Labor, by each January
1, a report on the number of workplace violence incidents that occurred
during the previous calendar year and the specific location where each
incident occurred.
The bill applies to (1) municipal electric, gas, or water companies; (2)
regional water authorities and sewer districts; (3) municipal public
works departments; and (4) public service companies regulated by the
Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (generally, investor-owned utility
companies). Under the bill, “workplace violence” is any act or threat of
physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening
disruptive behavior that occurs at a work sit e, but it does not include
this behavior at the employer’s site.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2026
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RISK ASSESSMENT AND TRAINING REQUIREMENT
The bill requires the utility companies, by January 1, 2027, to have a
risk assessment of the factors that may place employees who provide
services directly to customers at risk of being a victim of workplace
violence by virtue of their role as the company’s employee. The
assessment must at least cover the risks of (1) working directly with
customers in their homes, (2) working late nights or early morning
hours, (3) exchanging money with customers, (4) working alone or in
small numbers, (5) customers with a previous history of violence toward
employees, and (6) the crime rate in the municipality where the
employee will provide services. The crime rates used must be those
determined in the Department of Emergency Services and Public
Protection’s most recent annual crime report.
The bill then requires each company, by July 1, 2027, to develop an d
implement a workplace violence prevention and response training
program for employees who provide services directly to customers. The
training must be given at hire and then annually, and at least include:
1. the risk factors identified in the risk assessment;
2. methods the company will use to prevent workplace violence
incidents, including (a) ways to minimize how much cash an
employee carries during a work shift and (b) establishing and
implementing reporting systems for incidents of violent or
aggressive behavior;
3. conflict resolution and non-violent self-defense responses; and
4. ways the employees can protect themselves from the risks.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 9 Nay 4 (03/17/2026)