Section 31-51q

Citation: Section 31-51q
Parent Document: Cotto v. United Technologies Corp., 251 Conn. 1 (1999)
Jurisdiction: Connecticut (state)
Effective Date: 1999-10-12
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7898264/cotto-v-united-technologies-corp/ ↗

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I address briefly the three fundamental flaws in the majority’s analysis of § 31-51q. First, despite its repeated references to “a literal reading of the statute,” to a “literal construction of § 31-51q,” and to the language of the statute as its “point of departure,” the majority ignores the core of the statute, namely, that it subjects to civil liability for damages any employer *22who disciplines or discharges an employee “on account of the exercise by such employee of rights guaranteed by the first amendment to the United States Constitution or sections 3,4 or 14 of articlefirst of the Constitution of the state . . . .” (Emphasis added.) Nowhere does the majority discuss the meaning of this language, which, properly interpreted, compels the conclusion that the statute does not apply to this case. Moreover, in assuming without analysis that this language poses no obstacle to its conclusion, the majority also assumes that the legislature that enacted this language was uninformed about the subject matter of its own legislation.

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