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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 314
February Session, 2022
AN ACT CONCERNING PROTECTION OF WAREHOUSE WORKERS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2022) (a) As used in this section and 1
sections 2 and 3 of this act: 2
(1) "Employee" means any person engaged in service to an employer 3
in a business of the employer; 4
(2) "Employee work speed data" means information an employer 5
collects, stores, analyzes or interprets relating to an employee's 6
performance of a quota, including, but not limited to, quantities of tasks 7
performed, quantities of items or materials handled or produced, rates 8
or speeds of tasks performed, or measurements of employee 9
performance in relation to a quota and time categorized as performing 10
tasks or not performing tasks; 11
(3) "Employer" means (A) a single warehouse distribution center in 12
the state in which one hundred or more employees work, or (B) one or 13
more warehouse distribution centers in the state which are owned and 14
operated by the same person, partnership, corporation, limited liability 15
company, association of persons or other business entity and in which, 16
in the aggregate, one thousand or more employees work; 17 Substitute Bill No. 314
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(4) "Quota" means a work standard under which an employee is 18
assigned or required to perform at a specified productivity speed, 19
perform a quantified number of tasks, or to handle or produce a 20
quantified amount of material, within a defined time period and under 21
which the employee may suffer an adverse employment action if the 22
employee fails to complete a performance standard; and 23
(5) "Warehouse distribution center" means an establishment as 24
defined by any of the following North American Industry Classification 25
System Codes: (A) 493110 For General Warehousing and Storage; (B) 26
423 for Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods; (C) 424 for Merchant 27
Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods; or (D) 454110 for Electronic Shopping 28
and Mail-Order Houses. 29
(b) (1) Not later than August 1, 2022, or at the time of hire, whichever 30
is later, an employer shall provide to each employee a written 31
description of each quota the employee is subject to within a defined 32
time period and any potential adverse employment action that may 33
result from a failure to meet such quota. An employee shall not be 34
required to meet any quota that prevents compliance with (A) section 35
31-51ii of the general statutes, concerning meal periods, (B) the use of 36
bathroom facilities, including the reasonable time to travel to and from 37
bathroom facilities, or (C) the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 38
1970, 15 USC 651 et seq., as amended from time to time. 39
(2) An employer shall not take any adverse employment action 40
against an employee for failure to meet a quota that prevents 41
compliance as described in subparagraphs (A) to (C), inclusive, of 42
subdivision (1) of this subsection or for a quota that has not been 43
disclosed pursuant to this subsection. Any action taken by an employee 44
to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 15 USC 45
651 et seq., as amended from time to time, or regulations promulgated 46
thereunder shall be considered time on task and productive time for 47
purposes of any quota or monitoring system. Meal and rest breaks are 48
not considered productive time unless the employee is required to be on 49
call. 50 Substitute Bill No. 314
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(c) If a current or former employee believes that meeting a quota 51
caused a violation of the employee's right to a meal period under section 52
31-51ii of the general statutes or required the employee to violate the 53
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 15 USC 651 et seq., the 54
employee may request, and the employer shall provide, upon the 55
employee's request, a written description of each quota to which the 56
employee is subject and a copy of the employee's own personal work 57
speed data for the most recent ninety days. If a former employee 58
requests a written description of the quotas to which the former 59
employee was subject and a copy of the former employee's own 60
personal work speed data pursuant to this subsection, the employer 61
shall provide ninety days of the former employee's quotas and personal 62
work speed data for the ninety days prior to the date of the employee's 63
separation from employment with the employer. A former employee 64
may make only one request pursuant to this subsection. 65
(d) An employer that receives a written or oral request for 66
information pursuant to subsection (c) of this section shall comply with 67
the request as soon as practicable, but not later than twenty-one calendar 68
days after the date of the request. 69
(e) There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if 70
an employer in any manner discriminates, retaliates or takes any 71
adverse action against any employee not later than ninety days after the 72
employee: 73
(1) Initiates the employee's first request in a calendar year for 74
information about a quota or personal work speed data pursuant to 75
subsection (c) of section 1 of this act; or 76
(2) Makes a complaint related to a quota alleging any violation of this 77
section to the Labor Commissioner. 78
(f) Any employee who believes an employer violated any provision 79
of this section may file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner. Upon 80
receipt of any such complaint, the commissioner shall hold a hearing. 81 Substitute Bill No. 314
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After the hearing, the commissioner shall send each party a written copy 82
of the commissioner's decision. The commissioner may award the 83
employee all appropriate relief. Any party aggrieved by a decision of 84
the commissioner may appeal the decision to the Superior Court in 85
accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes. 86
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2022) (a) The Labor Commissioner shall 87
enforce the provisions of sections 1 to 3, inclusive, of this act by engaging 88
in coordinated and strategic enforcement efforts with the Workers' 89
Compensation Commission. 90
(b) The Labor Commissioner shall educate employees and employers 91
about their rights and obligations under said sections in order to 92
increase compliance. 93
(c) The Labor Commissioner shall have access to data, including 94
employer-reported injury data and enforcement actions in employer 95
warehouses, the identity of uninsured employers, and employers who 96
are committing workers' compensation fraud, wage theft or other 97
information relevant to the commissioner's authority. 98
(d) Not later than January 1, 2024, the Labor Commissioner shall 99
report to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having 100
cognizance of matters relating to labor on the number of claims filed 101
with the commissioner under sections 1 to 3, inclusive, of this act, data 102
on warehouse production quotas in warehouses in which the Workers' 103
Compensation Commission has indicated that annual employee injury 104
rates are above the industry average, and the number of investigations 105
undertaken and enforcement actions initiated. 106
(e) The Workers' Compensation Commission shall keep track of 107
injury rates for each employer as defined under section 1 of this act. If 108
an employer is found to have an annual employee injury rate one and 109
one-half times higher than the warehousing industry's average annual 110
injury rate, or more, the Workers' Compensation Commission shall 111
notify the Labor Commissioner, and the commissioner shall determine 112 Substitute Bill No. 314
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whether an investigation concerning potential violations of sections 1 to 113
3, inclusive, of this act is appropriate. 114
(f) The commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance with the 115
provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes, to implement and 116
enforce the provisions of sections 1 to 3, inclusive, of this act. 117
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2022) Any person aggrieved by a 118
violation of any provision of this section and sections 1 and 2 of this act, 119
the Labor Commissioner, or the Attorney General may bring a civil 120
action in the Superior Court to recover damages, civil penalties and such 121
equitable and injunctive relief as the court deems appropriate. Any 122
person who prevails in such civil action shall be awarded reasonable 123
attorney's fees and costs to be taxed by the court. 124
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2022 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2022 New section
Sec. 3 July 1, 2022 New section
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 1(b)(2), "such a quota" was changed to "a quota that prevents
compliance as described in subparagraphs (A) to (C), inclusive, of
subdivision (1) of this subsection" for clarity, in Section 2(e),
"investigation of violations pursuant to sections 1 to 3" was changed to
"investigation concerning potential violations of sections 1 to 3" for
clarity; and in Section 3, "individual" was changed to "person" for
consistency.
LAB Joint Favorable Subst.