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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 412
February Session, 2024
LCO No. 2719
Referred to Committee on LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
Introduced by:
(LAB)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF WAREHOUSE
WORKERS IN THE STATE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2024) As used in this section and 1
sections 2 to 8, inclusive, of this act: 2
(1) "Employee" has the same meaning as provided in section 31-51n 3
of the general statutes. "Employee" does not include a driver or courier 4
traveling to or from a warehouse distribution center; 5
(2) "Employer" means an individual, corporation, partnership, 6
limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability 7
company, business trust, estate, trust, association, joint venture, agency, 8
instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity, whether 9
domestic or foreign, that directly or indirectly, or through an agent or 10
any other person, including through the services of a third-party 11
employer, temporary services, staffing agency, independent contractor 12
or any similar entity, at any time in the prior twelve months, employs 13
or exercises control over the wages, hours or working conditions of (A) 14
one hundred or more employees at a single warehouse distribution 15 Raised Bill No. 412
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center in the state, or (B) one thousand or more employees, in the 16
aggregate, at one or more warehouse distribution centers in the state 17
that are owned and operated by the same individual, partnership, 18
corporation, limited liability company, association of persons or other 19
business entity; 20
(3) "Quota" means a work performance standard or performance 21
target where (A) an employee is assigned or required to (i) perform a 22
quantified number of tasks within a defined time period, (ii) perform at 23
a specified productivity speed, or (iii) handle or produce a quantified 24
amount of material without a certain number of errors or defects as 25
measured at the individual or group level within a defined time period, 26
(B) an employee's actions are categorized and measured between time 27
performing tasks and not performing tasks, (C) an employee's 28
performance is ranked in relation to the performance of other 29
employees, or (D) increments of time continuously measured, recorded 30
or tallied within an employee's work day where such employee is or is 31
not doing a particular activity or set of activities; 32
(4) "Work speed data" means information an employer collects, 33
stores, analyzes or interprets relating to an individual employee's 34
performance of a quota, including, but not limited to, quantities of tasks 35
performed, quantities of items or materials handled or produced, rates 36
or speeds of tasks performed, measurements or metrics of employee 37
performance in relation to a quota and time categorized as performing 38
tasks or not performing tasks; and 39
(5) "Warehouse distribution center" means an establishment as 40
defined by any of the following North American Industry Classification 41
System Codes: (A) 493110 for General Warehousing and Storage; (B) 423 42
for Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods; (C) 424 for Merchant 43
Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods; (D) 454110 for Electronic Shopping 44
and Mail-Order Houses; or (E) 492110 for Couriers and Express Delivery 45
Services. 46
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2024) (a) On and after July 1, 2025, 47 Raised Bill No. 412
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each employer shall provide to each employee not later than August 1, 48
2025, or, for an employee hired on or after August 1, 2025, upon hire, a 49
written description of each quota the employee is or will be subject to, 50
including any potential adverse employment action that may result 51
from a failure to meet each quota. 52
(b) Whenever the employer makes a change to a quota and such 53
change results in a different quota for an employee than the most recent 54
written description provided to an employee pursuant to subsection (a) 55
of this section, an employer shall: 56
(1) Notify the employee of such change as soon as possible, either 57
verbally or in writing, prior to such employee becoming subject to the 58
new quota; and 59
(2) Provide the employee with an updated written description of each 60
quota for which such employee is subject to not later than two business 61
days after such change in the quota. 62
(c) An employer shall provide a written copy of any quota required 63
pursuant to this section to an employee. Such written copy shall be 64
provided directly to such employee by a manager during such 65
employee's work hours. 66
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2024) (a) On and after July 1, 2025, 67
no quota shall: (1) Violate the provisions of section 31-51ii of the general 68
statutes concerning meal periods; (2) interfere with an employee's use 69
of the bathroom facilities, including reasonable travel time to and from 70
the bathroom facilities; (3) measure an employee's total output over an 71
increment of time that is shorter than such employee's work day; (4) be 72
based solely on ranking the performance of an employee in relation to 73
the performance of other employees; or (5) measure, record or tally 74
increments of time during an employee's work day where such 75
employee is or is not performing a particular activity or set of activities. 76
(b) No employer shall take any adverse action against an employee 77
for failing to meet a quota (1) that violates the provisions of section 31-78 Raised Bill No. 412
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51ii as described in subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of this section, (2) 79
that interferes with the employee's use of bathroom facilities, including 80
reasonable time to travel to and from the bathroom facilities, (3) if such 81
employee did not complete such employee's entire scheduled shift, or 82
(4) that has not been previously provided to an employee pursuant to 83
section 2 of this act. 84
Sec. 4. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2024) (a) On and after July 1, 2025, 85
each employer shall establish, maintain and preserve contemporaneous, 86
true and accurate records of the following: (1) Each employee's own 87
personal work speed data; (2) the aggregate work speed data for similar 88
employees at the same warehouse distribution center; and (3) the 89
written description of each quota that each employee was provided 90
pursuant to section 2 of this act. 91
(b) An employer shall maintain and preserve any records required 92
pursuant to this section for a period of not more than three years. 93
(c) Nothing in this section shall require an employer to establish, 94
maintain and preserve the records required under this section if such 95
employer does not use quotas or monitor work speed data. 96
Sec. 5. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2024) (a) On and after July 1, 2025, 97
if an employee believes meeting a quota caused or will cause a violation 98
of subsection (a) of section 3 of this act, such employee may request from 99
such employee's supervisor, or another designated supervisor: (1) A 100
written description of each quota the employee is subject to; (2) a copy 101
of any records of the employee's own personal work speed data for the 102
prior ninety days; and (3) a copy of any records of the prior ninety days 103
of aggregated work speed data for similar employees at the same 104
employer for the same time period. 105
(b) On and after July 1, 2025, a former employee may request from a 106
former employer: (1) A written description of each quota the employee 107
was subject to for the ninety days prior to the date of such employee's 108
separation from employment; (2) a copy of any records of the 109
employee's own personal work speed data for the ninety days prior to 110 Raised Bill No. 412
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such employee's separation from employment; and (3) a copy of any 111
records of aggregated work speed data for similar employees at the 112
same warehouse distribution center for the ninety days prior to the 113
employee's separation from employment. A former employee may only 114
make one such request of such former employer under this section. 115
(c) An employer shall provide a written copy of any records 116
requested pursuant to this section not later than five calendar days after 117
receipt of such request. Such written copy shall be provided in both 118
English and the language identified by the requesting employee as the 119
primary language of such employee. Such written copy shall be 120
provided directly to such employee by a manager during such 121
employee's work hours. 122
Sec. 6. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2024) (a) On and after July 1, 2025, 123
if an employer discharges or in any way retaliates, discriminates or takes 124
any adverse action against any employee or former employee within 125
ninety days after such employee (1) makes a request pursuant to section 126
5 of this act, or (2) files a civil action pursuant to section 7 of this act, 127
there shall be a rebuttable presumption that such adverse action is in 128
violation of this section. 129
(b) Such presumption may be rebutted by clear and convincing 130
evidence that (1) the adverse action was taken for other permissible 131
reasons, and (2) the employee (A) making or attempting to make a 132
request pursuant to section 5 of this act, or (B) filing a civil action 133
pursuant to section 7 of this act was not a motivating factor in the 134
employer taking such adverse action. 135
Sec. 7. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2024) (a) On and after July 1, 2025, 136
any employee aggrieved by a violation of sections 2 to 6, inclusive, of 137
this act, or the Attorney General on behalf of any employee aggrieved 138
by a violation of sections 2 to 6, inclusive, of this act, may bring a civil 139
action in the Superior Court to recover damages, civil penalties and such 140
equitable and injunctive relief as the court deems appropriate. Any 141
person who prevails in such civil action may be awarded reasonable 142 Raised Bill No. 412
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attorney's fees and cost to be taxed by the court. 143
(b) Any employer who violates a provision of sections 2 to 6, 144
inclusive, of this act may be assessed a civil penalty by the court of (1) 145
one thousand dollars for a first violation, (2) two thousand dollars for a 146
second violation, or (3) three thousand dollars for a third or subsequent 147
violations. 148
Sec. 8. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2024) On and after July 1, 2025, the 149
Workers' Compensation Commission shall monitor the injury rates of 150
employees working in warehouse distribution centers in the state. If an 151
employer is found to have an annual injury rate at or over one and one-152
half time the warehousing industry's average annual injury rate, the 153
Workers' Compensation Commission shall notify the Labor 154
Commissioner and the commissioner shall determine whether an 155
investigation concerning potential violations of sections 2 to 6, inclusive, 156
of this act is appropriate. 157
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2024 New section
Sec. 2 October 1, 2024 New section
Sec. 3 October 1, 2024 New section
Sec. 4 October 1, 2024 New section
Sec. 5 October 1, 2024 New section
Sec. 6 October 1, 2024 New section
Sec. 7 October 1, 2024 New section
Sec. 8 October 1, 2024 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To create protections for warehouse workers in the state against
unreasonable quotas imposed by employers.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]