HB 6638: CT Antidiscrimination Changes to Age and Hate Crimes

Connecticut House Bill 6638, enacted as Public Act 23-145, revised the state’s antidiscrimination statutes effective July 1, 2023. It did three main things: it added age as a protected class across the state’s civil rights code, rewrote the definition of sexual orientation, and extended hate crime protections to cover age-based bias.¹ Governor Lamont signed the bill on June 26, 2023.

The point of the law was consistency. Before it passed, Connecticut’s list of protected classes was not the same from one section of the civil rights code to the next. Age appeared in some places and not others. The language on sexual orientation was outdated. HB 6638 standardized the lists across employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit.²

Age Is Now a Protected Class Beyond Employment

Age discrimination protections in Connecticut used to live mostly in the employment statutes. HB 6638 added age to Section 46a-58, the broader civil rights provision that prohibits depriving anyone of rights secured by state or federal law because of a protected characteristic.¹ Age-based complaints are no longer boxed into the workplace. The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities can now investigate age discrimination in housing, public accommodations, and credit as well.²

Within employment specifically, Connecticut’s protected classes under Section 46a-60 include race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability, physical disability (including blindness), veteran status, and status as a victim of domestic violence.³ The CHRO’s public complaint brochure now lists age among the categories a person can file on.⁴

The New Definition of Sexual Orientation

Under the revised Section 46a-51, sexual orientation means a person’s identity in relation to the gender or genders to which they are romantically, emotionally, or sexually attracted. The definition also covers any identity a person previously expressed or that another person perceives them to hold.⁵

That perception piece has practical weight. If an employer takes action against you because a supervisor or coworker assumed you were gay, the statute protects you whether or not their assumption was correct. Both self-identified and perceived orientation fall inside the definition.

Hate Crimes Now Cover Age

HB 6638 added age to the categories protected under Connecticut’s hate crime provisions in Section 46a-58.⁶ Acts already prohibited when motivated by other protected characteristics, including placing a noose or its simulation on public or private property with intent to intimidate, are now prohibited when the target is chosen because of age. Penalties range from a Class A misdemeanor up to a Class C felony depending on the property targeted and the amount of damage caused.¹

Who Has to Follow the New Rules

The expanded protected classes bind employers, housing providers, businesses open to the public, and creditors operating in Connecticut. If you employ people, rent to tenants, serve the public, or extend credit in the state, the standardized list of protected classes governs your practices.

One boundary matters. Section 46a-81p keeps a limited exemption for religious corporations, associations, educational institutions, and similar entities regarding employment tied to their religious activities and to internal matters of discipline, faith, and ecclesiastical governance.⁷ The exemption is narrow. It does not license religious employers to discriminate freely across every function they perform.

Filing a Complaint Under the New Protections

You can file a discrimination complaint with the CHRO at no cost.⁸⁹⁴

The deadline is strict. You have 300 days from the date the discrimination occurred to file. Miss it and the CHRO will not take the complaint.¹⁰ The clock runs from the act itself, not from when you realized it was unlawful.

If the CHRO finds discrimination occurred, a presiding officer can order the respondent to stop the practice and take corrective steps. In employment cases, remedies include back pay (up to two years before the complaint was filed), actual damages, and reasonable attorney’s fees. In housing and public accommodation cases, damages can cover moving costs, storage, the cost of finding alternate housing or space, and other out-of-pocket losses, plus attorney’s fees not tied to the size of the damage award.¹¹

Employment Complaints and the EEOC

For workplace discrimination, the CHRO has a worksharing agreement with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A charge filed with either agency is automatically dual-filed with the other, preserving your rights under both state and federal law.¹² Federal law’s 180-day filing deadline extends to 300 days in states like Connecticut that operate their own enforcement agency, and because Connecticut now explicitly prohibits age discrimination in employment through a state agency, that 300-day window applies to federal age charges filed here as well.¹³

What HB 6638 Did Not Change

Some Connecticut civil rights changes people associate with this law came from other bills. The expansion of “race” to include ethnic traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and protective hairstyles, was Public Act 21-2 in 2021, not HB 6638.¹⁴⁵ Adding status as a victim of domestic violence to the hate crime protected classes came from Public Act 22-82.⁶ If you are preparing a complaint or citing the source of a right, matching the change to the correct public act keeps your position clean from the start.

1
Connecticut General Assembly. Connecticut Public Act 23-145 – An Act Revising the State’s Antidiscrimination Statutes
2
Connecticut General Assembly. HB 6638 – An Act Revising the State’s Antidiscrimination Statutes
3
Justia Law. Connecticut Code Title 46A – Section 46a-60
4
Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. Complaint Process Brochure
5
Justia Law. Connecticut Code Title 46A – Section 46a-51
6
Connecticut General Assembly. Connecticut Hate Crime Laws
7
Justia Law. Connecticut Code Title 46A – Section 46a-81p
8
Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. How to File a Discrimination Complaint
9
Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. Complaint Process
10
Justia Law. Connecticut Code Title 46A – Section 46a-82
11
Connecticut General Assembly. Connecticut Code Chapter 814C – Section 46a-86
12
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. How to File a Charge of Employment Discrimination
13
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits for Filing a Charge
14
Connecticut General Assembly. Connecticut Public Act 21-2