LCO 1 of 6 General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 412 February Session, 2024 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" means any individual engaged in service to an 3 employer in a business of such employer. "Employee" does not include 4 a driver or courier 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 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 Substitute Bill No. 412 LCO 2 of 6 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 are continuously measured, 30 recorded or tallied within an employee's work day where such 31 employee is or is 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 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 such employee is or will be subject to, 50 Substitute Bill No. 412 LCO 3 of 6 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 the 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 quota change. 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 51ii of the general statutes as described in subdivision (1) of subsection 79 (a) of this section, (2) that interferes with the employee's use of bathroom 80 facilities, including reasonable time to travel to and from the bathroom 81 Substitute Bill No. 412 LCO 4 of 6 facilities, (3) if such employee did not complete such employee's entire 82 scheduled shift, or (4) that has not been previously provided to an 83 employee pursuant to 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 pursuant to this section if 95 such 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 ninety days prior to such request; and (3) a copy of any records of 103 aggregated work speed data for similar employees at the same 104 employer for the ninety days prior to such request. 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 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 Substitute Bill No. 412 LCO 5 of 6 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 no employer shall discharge or in any way retaliate, discriminate or take 124 any adverse action against any employee or former employee solely due 125 to such employee (1) making a request pursuant to section 5 of this act, 126 or (2) filing a civil action pursuant to section 7 of this act. 127 (b) (1) On and after July 1, 2025, if an employer discharges or in any 128 way retaliates, discriminates or takes any adverse action against any 129 employee or former employee within ninety days after such employee 130 (A) makes a request pursuant to section 5 of this act, or (B) files a civil 131 action pursuant to section 7 of this act, there shall be a rebuttable 132 presumption that such adverse action is in violation of this section. 133 (2) Such presumption may be rebutted by clear and convincing 134 evidence that (1) the adverse action was taken for other permissible 135 reasons, and (2) the employee (A) making or attempting to make a 136 request pursuant to section 5 of this act, or (B) filing a civil action 137 pursuant to section 7 of this act was not a motivating factor in the 138 employer taking such adverse action. 139 Sec. 7. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2024) (a) On and after July 1, 2025, 140 any employee aggrieved by a violation of sections 2 to 6, inclusive, of 141 this act, or the Attorney General on behalf of any employee aggrieved 142 by a violation of sections 2 to 6, inclusive, of this act, may bring a civil 143 action in the Superior Court to recover damages, civil penalties and such 144 equitable and injunctive relief as the court deems appropriate. Any 145 Substitute Bill No. 412 LCO 6 of 6 person who prevails in such civil action may be awarded reasonable 146 attorney's fees and cost to be taxed by the court. 147 (b) Any employer who violates a provision of sections 2 to 6, 148 inclusive, of this act may be assessed a civil penalty by the court of (1) 149 one thousand dollars for a first violation, (2) two thousand dollars for a 150 second violation, or (3) three thousand dollars for a third or subsequent 151 violations. 152 Sec. 8. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2024) On and after July 1, 2025, the 153 Workers' Compensation Commission shall monitor the injury rates of 154 employees working in warehouse distribution centers in the state. If an 155 employer is found to have an annual injury rate at or over one and one-156 half times the warehousing industry's average annual injury rate, the 157 Workers' Compensation Commission shall notify the Labor 158 Commissioner and the commissioner shall determine whether an 159 investigation concerning potential violations of sections 2 to 6, inclusive, 160 of this act is appropriate. 161 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 LAB Joint Favorable Subst. JUD Joint Favorable