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OLR Bill Analysis
SB 8
AN ACT CONCERNING PROTECTIONS FOR WORKERS AND
ENHANCEMENTS TO WORKERS' RIGHTS.
SUMMARY
This bill generally (1) limits how employers at certain warehouses
may use quotas for their employees and (2) makes striking workers (in
any type of employment) eligible for unemployment benefits after they
have been on strike for 14 consecutive days.
For warehouse quotas, starting July 1, 2026, the bill limits the extent
to which employers at certain warehouse distribution centers can
require their employees to meet production quotas. It generally applies
to employers that employ at least (1) 100 employees at a single
warehouse distribution center in the state or (2) 1,000 employees at
multiple warehouse distribution centers in the state.
Among other things, the bill:
1. requires the covered employers to give their employees a written
description of the quotas they must meet and any possible
adverse employment actions they may face for failing to do so;
2. prohibits the employers from using quotas that (a) prevent
compliance with the state law on meal periods, (b) interfere with
the employee using bathroom facilities, or (c) use certain
methods to measure work; and
3. sets recordkeeping requirements for employers and requires
them to give copies of their quota records to current or former
employees who believe that meeting a quota caused a violation
of certain provisions in the bill.
The bill allows an employee aggrieved by a violation of the bill’s 2025SB-00008-R000177-BA.DOCX
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provisions to bring a civil action in Superior Court, which may assess
civil penalties for violations. It also prohibits employers from
discharging or retaliating against employees solely because they
requested their quota records or filed a civil action, and creates a
rebuttable presumption that a violation occurred if this happens within
90 days after the request or filing.
Lastly, the bill requires the Workers’ Compensation Commission to
monitor and report on injury rates of employees in warehouse
distribution centers in the state. The commission must report its findings
to the labor commissioner if the injury rate at a distribution center is
above a threshold the bill sets.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2025
§§ 1-9 — WAREHOUSE Q UOTAS
Covered Employers and Employees (§ 1)
The employers covered by the bill’s provision on warehouse quotas
are any domestic or foreign legal or commercial entities that over the
previous 12 months employed or exercised control over the wages,
hours, or working conditions of at least (1) 100 employees at a single
warehouse distribution center in the state or (2) 1,000 employees, in
total, at multiple warehouse distribution centers in the state. The
employer’s exercise of control over the employees may be direct or
indirect, or through an agent or another entity, including through the
services of a third-party employer, temporary services or staffing
agency, independent contractor, or any similar entity.
Under the bill, a warehouse distribution center is an establishment as
defined by the following North American Industry Classification
System (NAICS) code, however the establishment is designated: (1)
493110 for General Warehousing and Storage; (2) 423 for Merchant
Wholesalers, Durable Goods; (3) 424 for Merchant Wholesalers,
Nondurable Goods; (4) 454110 for Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order
Houses (it appears that this code was removed in the 2022 revision to
the NAICS); or (5) 492110 for Couriers and Express Delivery Services. 2025SB-00008-R000177-BA.DOCX
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“Employees” under these provisions are anyone employed at a
warehouse distribution center, except drivers or couriers traveling to or
from a warehouse distribution center.
Quotas (§§ 1-4)
Under the bill, a “quota” is a work performance standard where:
1. an employee is assigned or required to (a) perform at a specified
productivity speed, (b) perform a certain number of tasks, or (c)
handle or produce a certain amount of material within a defined
period;
2. an employee’s actions are categorized and measured between
time performing tasks and not performing tasks within a defined
period;
3. increments of time within a defined period when an employee is
or is not doing a particular activity are measured, recorded, or
tallied; or
4. an employee’s performance is ranked in relation to other
employees’ performance.
Quota Disclosure (§ 2). Starting July 1, 2026, the bill requires
covered employers to give employees a written description of each
quota they are subject to, including any potential adverse employment
action that could result from failing to meet it. The employers must do
so for their existing employees by August 1, 2026, and upon hiring for
employees hired after that date.
Whenever an employer makes a change to an employee’s existing
quota that results in a new quota for the employee, the bill requires the
employer to (1) notify the employee about the change verbally or in
writing as soon as possible, but before the quota becomes effective, and
(2) give the employee a written description of the new quota within two
business days after the quota changes.
The bill requires that the written description of these quotas be given 2025SB-00008-R000177-BA.DOCX
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directly to the employee by a manager during the employee’s work
hours.
Prohibited Quotas (§ 3). Starting July 1, 2026, the bill prohibits
quotas from:
1. preventing compliance with the state law on required meal
periods;
2. interfering with an employee’s use of bathroom facilities,
including reasonable time to travel to and from them;
3. setting a performance standard that measures an employee’s
total output over an increment shorter than the employee’s work
day; or
4. setting a performance standard based solely on ranking an
employee’s performance in relation to other employees.
Adverse Action Ban (§ 4). Starting July 1, 2026, the bill also prohibits
employers from taking any adverse action against an employee for
failing to satisfy a quota that (1) violates the bill’s provision on
prohibited quotas or (2) has not been disclosed as the bill requires.
Employer Quota Records (§ 5)
Starting July 1, 2026, the bill requires employers to establish,
maintain, and preserve contemporaneous, true, and accurate records for
(1) each employee’s personal work speed data, (2) the aggregate work
speed data for similar employees at the same warehouse distribution
center, and (3) the written quota descriptions given to each employee as
required by the bill. The employer must maintain and preserve these
records for three years. However, the bill specifies that these
requirements do not apply if the employer does not assign or require
quotas, or collect, store, analyze, or interpret work speed data.
Under the bill, “work speed data” is information an employer
collects, stores, analyzes, or interprets about an employee’s quota
performance, including quantities of tasks performed, quantities of 2025SB-00008-R000177-BA.DOCX
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items or materials handled or produced, rates or speeds of tasks
performed, employee performance measurements or metrics in relation
to a quota, or time categorized as performing tasks or not performing
tasks.
Employee Access to Work Speed Data (§ 6)
Starting July 1, 2026, if employees believes that satisfying a quota
caused or will cause a violation of the bill’s provisions on prohibited
quotas, the bill allows them to request (1) a written description of each
quota they were subject to, (2) copies of their personal work speed data
records for the past 90 days, and (3) copies of the aggregate work speed
data for similar employees at the same warehouse distribution center
for the past 90 days. The bill similarly allows former employee to request
this same information for the 90 days before they separated from
employment with the employer. However, the bill limits a former
employee to one of these requests.
The bill requires employers to provide a written copy of the
requested records within five calendar days after receiving the request.
They must be (1) written in English and the language the employee
identifies as his or her primary language and (2) given directly to the
employee by a manager during the employee’s work hours (the bill does
not specify how employers must provide the records to former
employees).
Anti-retaliation (§ 7). Starting July 1, 2026, the bill prohibits
employers from discharging or retaliating, discriminating, or taking any
adverse action against an employee or former employee for requesting
their quotas and work speed data or filing a civil action as allowed by
the bill (see below). If an employer does so within 90 days after the
employee or former employees requests the information or files the
lawsuit, the bill creates a rebuttable presumption that the employer’s
adverse action violates this prohibition. The presumption may be
rebutted by clear and convincing evidence that the (1) adverse action
was taken for other permissible reasons and (2) employee’s request or
filing was not a motivating factor for the employer’s action. 2025SB-00008-R000177-BA.DOCX
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Civil Actions (§ 8)
Starting July 1, 2026, the bill allows any employee aggrieved by a
violation of the bill’s warehouse quota provisions, or the attorney
general on the employee’s behalf, to bring a civil action in Superior
Court to recover damages, civil penalties, and equitable and injunctive
relief. (The bill does not similarly authorize former employees to bring
these actions.) The party that prevails in the case may be awarded
attorney’s fees and costs. The court may also assess civil penalties
against an employer of $1,000 for its first violation, $2,000 for its second,
and $3,000 for a third or subsequent violation.
Injury Rate Monitoring (§ 9)
Starting July 1, 2026, the bill requires the Workers’ Compensation
Commission to monitor injury rates of employees in warehouse
distribution centers in the state. If an employer has an annual injury rate
of at least 1.5 times the average annual injury rate for the relevant
NAICS code, based on data reported to the federal Occupational and
Safety Health Administration (OSHA), the commission must notify the
labor commissioner, who must decide whether an investigation for
potential violations of the bill is appropriate. (It is unclear how this
provision would be implemented, as the bill does not give the labor
commissioner any investigative or enforcement authority over the bill’s
provisions and the federal Department of Labor would be responsible
for enforcing any safety violations under OSHA.)
§10 — UNEMPLOYMENT B ENEFITS FOR STRIKING WORKERS
For labor disputes that start on or after December 14, 2026, the bill
generally makes striking workers eligible for unemployment benefits
after they have been on strike for 14 consecutive days. Current law
generally disqualifies claimants for benefits during any week in which
their unemployment is due to a labor dispute. The bill lifts this
disqualification once the labor dispute has been continuous for 14 days.
Existing law also allows claimants to qualify for benefits during a
labor dispute, with no waiting period, if the (1) unemployment is due to
a lockout (e.g., the employer closed the employment premises) or (2)
claimant is not participating in the dispute and does not belong to a 2025SB-00008-R000177-BA.DOCX
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trade, class, or organization of workers that is participating in,
financing, or directly interested in the dispute (e.g., non-union
employees at a business temporarily closed by a strike).
BACKGROUND
Related Bills
SB 1254, reported favorably by the Labor and Public Employees
Committee, has warehouse quota provisions that are largely similar to
this bill. However, SB 1254, differs by, among other things, (1) only
covering (and counting) employees who are nonexempt under the
federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime
requirements, (2) requiring single warehouses to have at least 250
employees (rather than 100) to be covered, and (3) not explicitly
covering quotas that count an employee’s actions between time
performing tasks, count time increments when an employee is or is not
doing a particular activity, or rank employees against each other.
HB 6904, reported favorably by the Labor and Public Employees
Committee, is identical to this bill’s provision on unemployment
benefits for striking workers.
HB 6907, reported favorably by the Labor and Public Employees
Committee, is identical to this bill’s provisions on warehouse quotas.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 9 Nay 4 (03/06/2025)