2012 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 46a - Human Rights
Chapter 814c - Human Rights and Opportunities
Section 46a-51 - (Formerly Sec. 31-122). Definitions.

As used in section 4a-60a and this chapter:

(1) “Blind” refers to an individual whose central visual acuity does not exceed 20/200 in the better eye with correcting lenses, or whose visual acuity is greater than 20/200 but is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than twenty degrees;

(2) “Commission” means the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities created by section 46a-52;

(3) “Commission legal counsel” means a member of the legal staff employed by the commission pursuant to section 46a-54;

(4) “Commissioner” means a member of the commission;

(5) “Court” means the Superior Court or any judge of said court;

(6) “Discrimination” includes segregation and separation;

(7) “Discriminatory employment practice” means any discriminatory practice specified in section 46a-60 or 46a-81c;

(8) “Discriminatory practice” means a violation of section 4a-60, 4a-60a, 4a-60g, 46a-58, 46a-59, 46a-60, 46a-64, 46a-64c, 46a-66, 46a-68, 46a-68c to 46a-68f, inclusive, or 46a-70 to 46a-78, inclusive, subsection (a) of section 46a-80 or sections 46a-81b to 46a-81o, inclusive;

(9) “Employee” means any person employed by an employer but shall not include any individual employed by such individual’s parents, spouse or child, or in the domestic service of any person;

(10) “Employer” includes the state and all political subdivisions thereof and means any person or employer with three or more persons in such person’s or employer’s employ;

(11) “Employment agency” means any person undertaking with or without compensation to procure employees or opportunities to work;

(12) “Labor organization” means any organization which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or of other mutual aid or protection in connection with employment;

(13) “Intellectual disability” means intellectual disability as defined in section 1-1g;

(14) “Person” means one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, corporations, limited liability companies, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers and the state and all political subdivisions and agencies thereof;

(15) “Physically disabled” refers to any individual who has any chronic physical handicap, infirmity or impairment, whether congenital or resulting from bodily injury, organic processes or changes or from illness, including, but not limited to, epilepsy, deafness or hearing impairment or reliance on a wheelchair or other remedial appliance or device;

(16) “Respondent” means any person alleged in a complaint filed pursuant to section 46a-82 to have committed a discriminatory practice;

(17) “Discrimination on the basis of sex” includes but is not limited to discrimination related to pregnancy, child-bearing capacity, sterilization, fertility or related medical conditions;

(18) “Discrimination on the basis of religious creed” includes but is not limited to discrimination related to all aspects of religious observances and practice as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that the employer is unable to reasonably accommodate to an employee’s or prospective employee’s religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business;

(19) “Learning disability” refers to an individual who exhibits a severe discrepancy between educational performance and measured intellectual ability and who exhibits a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in a diminished ability to listen, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations;

(20) “Mental disability” refers to an individual who has a record of, or is regarded as having one or more mental disorders, as defined in the most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”; and

(21) “Gender identity or expression” means a person’s gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s physiology or assigned sex at birth, which gender-related identity can be shown by providing evidence including, but not limited to, medical history, care or treatment of the gender-related identity, consistent and uniform assertion of the gender-related identity or any other evidence that the gender-related identity is sincerely held, part of a person’s core identity or not being asserted for an improper purpose.

(1949 Rev., S. 7401; 1959, P.A. 145, S. 1; 1967, P.A. 253; 636, S. 5, 6; P.A. 75-350, S. 1; P.A. 76-96, S. 1, 2; P.A. 77-452, S. 61, 72; P.A. 80-422, S. 1; 80-449, S. 3, 6; P.A. 81-81, S. 3; 81-382, S. 1; P.A. 82-51, S. 2; P.A. 83-587, S. 56, 96; P.A. 84-204; P.A. 88-303, S. 4; P.A. 90-246, S. 1; 90-330, S. 2, 11; P.A. 91-58, S. 20; P.A. 95-79, S. 167, 189; P.A. 01-28, S. 1; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 189; P.A. 07-142, S. 1; P.A. 11-55, S. 1; 11-129, S. 20.)

History: 1959 act added Subdiv. (k) defining age; 1967 acts redefined “employer” as one with three or more rather than five or more employees and redefined “commission” and “commissioner” to change commission name from commission on civil rights to commission on human rights and opportunities; P.A. 75-350 deleted definition of “age”, i.e. as “any age between forty and sixty-five, inclusive”; P.A. 76-96 redefined “court” as court of common pleas rather than superior court; P.A. 77-452 redefined “court” as superior court; P.A. 80-422 deleted definition of “unfair employment practice”, defined “blind”, “commission counsel”, “discriminatory employment practice”, “discriminatory practice”, “mental retardation” and “respondent”, replaced alphabetic Subdiv. indicators with numeric indicators and arranged definitions in alphabetical order; P.A. 80-449 made no substantive change; Sec. 31-122 transferred to Sec. 46a-51 in 1981; P.A. 81-81 amended Subdiv. (8) by adding reference to “section 47a-2a” which was subsequently transferred and redesignated Sec. 46a-64a; P.A. 81-382 added Subdiv. (17) defining “discrimination on the basis of sex”; P.A. 82-51 redefined “mental retardation” to adopt the definition of Sec. 1-1g of the general statutes; P.A. 83-587 substituted “46a-54” for “46-54” in Subdiv. (3); P.A. 84-204 added Subdiv. (18) defining “discrimination on the basis of religious creed”; P.A. 88-303 redefined “discriminatory practice” to include a violation of Sec. 4-114a; P.A. 90-246 amended Subdiv. (8) by deleting reference to repealed Sec. 46a-64a and adding reference to Sec. 46a-64c; P.A. 90-330 added definition of “learning disability”; P.A. 91-58 added reference in introductory clause to Sec. 4a-60a and proposed to add reference to Secs. 46a-81a to 46a-81o, inclusive, but said Secs. already included in existing reference to “this chapter”, amended definition of “discriminatory employment practice” to add reference to Sec. 46a-81c, and amended definition of “discriminatory practice” to include a violation of Sec. 4a-60a and Secs. 46a-81b to 46a-81o, inclusive; P.A. 95-79 redefined “person” to include limited liability companies, effective May 31, 1995; P.A. 01-28 added Subdiv. (20) defining “mental disability” and made technical changes for the purpose of gender neutrality in Subdivs. (9), (10) and (18); June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 replaced “commission counsel” with “commission legal counsel” as the defined term and replaced “the counsel employed by the commission pursuant to section 46a-54” with “a member of the legal staff employed by the commission pursuant to section 46a-54” as the definition of said term, effective August 20, 2003; P.A. 07-142 amended Subdiv. (8) by adding reference to Sec. 4a-60g and Secs. 46a-68c to 46a-68f, inclusive, and making technical changes, effective July 1, 2007; P.A. 11-55 added Subdiv. (21) defining “gender identity or expression”; pursuant to P.A. 11-129, “mental retardation” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “intellectual disability” in Subdiv. (13).

Cited. 153 C. 173; 163 C. 327.

Court cannot substitute its own discretion for that reposed by statute in hearing tribunal. 18 CS 125. Cited. 28 CS 472.

Subdiv. (b):

A corporation is not privileged under this chapter to do what an individual is precluded from doing. 168 C. 26.

Subdiv. (f):

Cited. 168 C. 26.

Subdiv. (i):

Cited. 3 CA 464.

Subdiv. (j):

Segregating employment opportunity advertisements into sex classifications constitutes discrimination. 168 C. 26.

Annotations to present section:

Cited. 188 C. 44; 226 C. 670.

Subdiv. (4):

Cited. 3 CA 464.

Subdiv. (8):

Cited. 231 C. 328.

Subdiv. (10):

Cited. 195 C. 226.

Does not evince an intent by General Assembly to grant small businesses a license to discriminate, but instead evidences intention to exempt small businesses from the other burdens of the act, not from its antidiscrimination policy. 64 CA 573.

Subdiv. (15):

Cited. 220 C. 307; 236 C. 96; 237 C. 209. Plaintiff who testified at trial that he had sustained a knee injury during course of his employment that required surgery and resulted in his receiving worker’s compensation benefits and a disability rating for his knee satisfied statutory definition of being “physically disabled”. 278 C. 692.

Cited. 35 CA 474. Definition does not extend to those who may be regarded or perceived as disabled by their employers. 137 CA 446.