Lawmakers plan compromise on restaurant work rules

Hartford (AP) — Connecticut lawmakers decided Monday to come up with compromise legislation this summer that addresses concerns raised by restaurant owners over wage and hour rules, forgoing a plan to override Gov. Ned Lamont’s veto of a bill that would have required the state Department of Labor to clarify its standards.

Democratic House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz of Berlin said meetings will be held in the coming days to try and reach an agreement. An informational meeting for the public will then be held on a new bill before the General Assembly returns for a vote.

“We really tried all weekend, shopping ideas back and forth,” said Aresimowicz, who had announced Friday the House of Representatives planned to override the veto. “But to come up with a bill that would have taken into consideration all of the concerns would have been very difficult.”

The Connecticut Restaurant Association and its members want the state’s rules clarified, considering there are inconsistencies that have become the subject of litigation.

Some restaurant owners are facing the possibility of paying costly fines and back wages, after being told for years it’s legal not to count every minute their servers and bartenders perform a task other than serving, so long as it’s less than 20 percent of their shift.

“Something like this could be devastating,” warned Barry Jessurun last week. CEO of a group that owns several restaurants in northeastern Connecticut, he predicted there could be restaurant closures if this issue is not addressed.

But in his veto message, Lamont raised concerns about how the bill would have repealed the state’s current regulations retroactively in order to address any pending lawsuits. He noted that could “extinguish a worker’s right in an amount lawfully required.” Lamont also said the legislation made significant policy changes to a complex area of the law without sufficient study, debate or input from stakeholders.

House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, a Republican from Derby, had hoped lawmakers could pass a fix on Monday.