A Message from our Chairman |
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Dear Chamber Member,
I would like to start out by congratulating my friend, Mayor Pete Hess, on being honored earlier today with the Health Advocate Award during the Waterbury Regional Chamber's Health Care Council's 17th Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony. Mayor Hess played a key role in turning around Naugatuck Ambulance, Inc., making it financially sound and providing for emergency assistance needs of our community. You can see some photos from the event and read more about the Mayor's work by scrolling down below. We are so lucky to have Mayor Hess working for us in the Borough!
Our next Out for Business takes place on Thursday, September 22 at Ion Bank's New Haven Road location in Naugatuck. Come enjoy some food and beverages, networking with other Chamber Members, and get the chance to win one of several door prizes! You can register now here.
Are you looking for a unique opportunity to advertise your business or organization? The next edition of our HealthMatters supplement will be published on September 18 and distributed to more than 30,000 households and businesses across the Waterbury Region. The deadline is August 29. Scroll down for additional details. Look for details coming soon on our Manufacturing Today supplement, which will be printed on October 27.
Our 2022-23 Chamber Member Business Directory was published and distributed with the Republican American on August 4. If you are looking for a copy, please stop by the Chamber offices or call 203-757-0701. You can also view the directory online here.
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Thank you for your continued membership, |
Kevin H. McSherry
McSherry Law Office
Naugatuck Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Board
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- Chairman's Note
- Member Benefit Highlight
- Mayor Hess Honored
- Upcoming Events
- HR Corner Corner by Carmody, Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP
- Hiring and Training Programs Available
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New Member Spotlight: Skyeye Technologies |
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Located in Naugatuck, Skyeye Technologies are low voltage contractors, specializing in A/V, network, security, digital signage, and other low voltage technologies. Skyeye serves both residential and commercial customers. Services include Zoom room installations, security systems, and more.
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Submit your Company News for an Upcoming Newsletter or Social Media Post |
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Each month, the Chamber publishes its Member Connection e-newsletter, which contains submitted content from our members. If you have an upcoming event, employee promotion or news, company updates, or other related content, submit it through the newsletter form here by the 25th of every month to ensure it makes the publishing deadline. If you have similar content that would be suitable to share on one of our many social media channels, you can also submit it by email for possible publication. If you have a photo or flier to share on social media, JPG or PNG formats work best. Remember, if you want something shared on our Instagram channels, that network only accepts square-shaped images (1080 pixels by 1080 pixels).
Get more visibility for an upcoming event or your organization and submit your content today!
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Mayor Hess Honored with 2022 Health Advocate Award |
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The Health Advocate award draws its inspiration from the late Stephen Sasala, who was the President and CEO of the Waterbury Regional Chamber from 2003 to 2009. Steve passed away at the age of 59 after a courageous battle with cancer. During his tenure, Steve brough great vision and strength to the Chamber, and among his accomplishments was playing an instrumental role in starting the Health Care Council. This award is presented to an individual or organization outside of the healthcare industry who demonstrates exceptional commitment to healthcare-related issues. Using their unique capabilities and competencies, the honoree has demonstrated an ability to improve healthcare and positively influence health-related issues.
This year's award was presented to Naugatuck Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess.
First elected in 2015, Mayor Hess is currently serving in his fourth term as Mayor of the Borough of Naugatuck. As the chief elected official of the Borough, Mayor Hess is responsible for the overall welfare of the community. Beginning in the spring 2021, signs began to be appear that the Naugatuck Ambulance, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization, was failing. The life-saving organization was in financial distress, operating with outdated and unreliable vehicles, understaffed, and unable to handle the volume of 911 calls that they were receiving. The situation reached a point where the town was relying on out-of-town ambulances to respond to emergencies in the borough. Mayor Hess met with the organization’s leadership and then created an ad hoc committee that took bold and decisive action to develop a transition to a new leadership team and organizational structure. He devoted time and resources and negotiated terms to help set in place a plan for success.
Under his leadership, the mayor worked with Waterbury Hospital in August 2021 to provide the borough with a temporary EMS CEO to stabilize organization and created a borough-appointed oversight board to add accountability.
Today, Naugatuck Ambulance is a well-functioning agency that provides residents of the borough with a high quality, highly reliable service. The non-profit agency has a new, permanent CEO and has been infused with new cash and resources, which has allowed the organization to hire new field staff, purchase new vehicles and equipment, and increased 911 coverage. All of these changes are making Naugatuck a much safer, and healthier place to live and do business.
Congratulations Mayor Hess!
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Share your business events, news and announcements with your fellow Chamber members! Email David Huck with your latest news to share in an upcoming newsletter or on social media.
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HR Corner: The Obligation to Provide a Medical Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation |
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The federal and Connecticut Family and Medical Leave Acts (FMLA) provide clear requirements for how much job-protected leave a covered employer must provide to its eligible employees. That is, eligible employees are generally entitled to 12 weeks of job-protected leave over a 12-month period, plus an additional two weeks of leave under the Connecticut FMLA for a serious health condition resulting in incapacity during pregnancy.
But does an employer have any obligation to provide a medical leave to an employee who is not eligible for leave under the federal or Connecticut FMLAs? For example, does an employer have to provide job-protected medical leave to an employee who has been employed less than three months or to an employee who has exhausted their available FMLA leave?
The federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act require employers to provide a reasonable accommodation to employees with a covered disability. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and courts have held that a medical leave can be a reasonable accommodation. Therefore, an employer may be required to provide an employee a medical leave of absence even if the employee is not eligible for FMLA leave or has exhausted their FMLA time. The question then becomes, how much time off is an employer required to provide?
Unlike the federal and Connecticut FMLAs, there is no bright line rule on how much leave an employer must provide except that an employer is not required to provide an indefinite leave of absence. If an employee requests a definite leave of absence, the question of how much leave an employer must provide depends on the facts and circumstances. This blurry answer, coupled with the fact that employers may have to provide a medical leave of absence beyond what the FMLA already requires, is understandably frustrating for employers. However, there are some tips and guidelines for managing these situations:
- Request medical certification to support the need for medical leave and the expected duration;
- Determine whether reasonable accommodations can be provided that would eliminate the need for leave;
- Fairly evaluate whether the amount of leave can be reasonably accommodated. Consider not only the anticipated length of the medical leave but also factors such as whether there are other employees who work in the same job classification thereby making it easier to assign the work of the absent employee, whether the employer can hire a temporary employee to fill the gap, the length of time that it would take to fill the employee’s position (if it would take a comparable amount of time to replace the employee as it would to grant the leave, then the employer should probably grant the leave), how much leave the employer has provided in other circumstances, and whether the leave of absence truly creates an undue hardship for the business;
- Communicate with the employee about the leave including options for possibly working on a reduced schedule and confirmation of the expected return to work date; and
- If the employee’s physician asks for repeated extensions of the return-to-work date, then this could amount to a de facto request for an indefinite leave, which likely is not reasonable.
Employers should remember that when an employee asks for a reasonable accommodation, the ADA expects employers and employees to engage in an interactive process to discuss the requested accommodation. Therefore, employers should not automatically reject a medical leave request because, for example, the employee exhausted their FMLA leave time or is not eligible for FMLA. Instead, the employer should begin a dialogue with the employee about what the employer might be able to reasonably accommodate.
If you have questions about what you can do to improve your employee retention, contact a member of Carmody’s Labor and Employment team.
This information is for educational purposes only to provide general information and a general understanding of the law. It does not constitute legal advice and does not establish any attorney-client relationship.
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Hiring & Training Programs Available |
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Do you need help finding qualified workers for your business? Could you use some financial assistance to offset the cost of hiring and training new workers, or training your existing workforce?
The Waterbury Regional Chamber is working with the Northwest Regional Workforce Investments Board to help businesses in Greater Waterbury learn more about the available hiring and training programs and whether they qualify for them. This includes providing information on posting jobs on the states CThires.com website, as well as information about Manufacturing Innovation Fund Incumbent Worker Training, the apprenticeship program, hiring veterans and on-the-job training programs.
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