Labor Committee Approves New Costly Mandates

The Labor and Public Employees Committee recently hit the deadline for acting on bills, concluding their work for the session unless bills are referred to the committee from other legislative committees.

Bills that were introduced or raised but not called for a vote within the committee are considered “dead”, but can still be resurrected by being amended into a different bill.

Several bills of concern for the business community were approved and can now be called for a vote in either chamber. The biggest bills of concern are highlighted below:

• SB 8: Mandates that warehouse distribution centers with 100 or more employees must notify, in writing, all employees of their respective productivity quotas and any data that measures performance. Employers must notify employees of any changes to an employee’s quota no more than two days after the change. Employers will also be banned from setting performance standards based solely on employee rankings, or from setting quotas that are measured in less than a full day’s work. Employers will be required to keep detailed records of work speed data, written notification of quota changes, and overall employee data. Any employer in violation can be liable to civil action in Superior Court and additional fines. The bill also provides unemployment benefits to striking workers who are on strike for more than 14 consecutive days.

• HB 6904: Allows striking workers involved in a labor dispute that has been continuous for 14 days access to unemployment benefits through the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund, which is funded solely by employer contributions. 

• HB 6907: Provides the same mandates as SB 8, with the exception of unemployment benefits for striking workers.

• SB 1254: Lamont administration’s version of the warehouse worker bill mandates that warehouse distribution centers with 250 or more employees must notify, in writing, all employees of their respective productivity quotas and any data that measures worker performance. Employers must notify employees of any changes to an employee’s quota no more than two days after the change. Employers will also be banned from setting performance standards based solely on employee rankings. Employers will be required to keep detailed records of work speed data, written notification of quota changes, and overall employee data.

• SB 1035: Prohibit employerss from using nondisclosure agreements, discussing certain types of conduct, including, but not limited to, discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.

• HB 7196: Prohibits the use of noncompete agreements and exclusivity agreements for employees making less than three times the minimum wage and contractors making less than five times the minimum wage. 

• SB 1484: Limits or bans an employers’ ability to monitor employee activities or communications by any means outside of direct observation. An employer may only engage in electronic monitoring in order to (1) Ensure the quality of goods and services, (2) conduct assessments of employee performance, (3) ensure compliance with state or federal law, (4) protect the health, safety and welfare of employees, (5) protect the security of the employer’s facilities or computer networks, or (6) administer wages and benefits. The bill will also require employers to hire a third party company to complete an impact assessment of the AI being used in the workplace. 

• HB 6517: Requires employers to disclose salary ranges for all public and internal job postings prior to the interview process.

• HB 7197: Requires employers to create a guide for pay codes. Each guide shall be posted on the employer’s website and include an explanation of the codes used for straight time, overtime, and any pay differentials, including, shift differentials, on-call pay, hazard pay, call-back pay, holiday or weekend pay, or geographical pay differentials. Such information must be posted in English, Spanish, and the other most common languages spoken by employees and include contact information of the designated individual who handles employee disputes regarding calculations of hours and pay differentials. An employer shall update the guide each time a new code is added. 

• SB 830: Creates new safety standards for indoor and outdoor workplaces addressing exposure to heat illness, requiring periods of rest, access to cooling areas, access to water and shade, and additional training on heat-illness identification. Also requires employers to establish an on-site emergency contact designee to identify and address employees showing signs of heat-related illness. Substitute language exempts emergency operation professions from the provisions of the bill, including fire, police, medical emergency personnel, and utility repair.

• HB 6955: Hold a contractor who enters into a construction contract liable for any unpaid wages due to an employee of a subcontractor. Contractors not in compliance can be held liable through civil action by the impacted employee or the organization representing the employee. 

• SB 1370: Requires employers with offsite fabrication operations to ensure all employees working off-site of the primary job site, who are constructing structures off site to be used on the worksite, to be paid prevailing wage rates.

• SB 1487: Makes third party delivery and transportation network company drivers employees as opposed to independent contractors, while providing customers with driver pay rate information and requiring several onerous reporting requirements. Substitute language (Section 5) requires drivers to receive a minimum compensation for each ride equivalent to the greater of 85% of the fare charged to the rider or the sum of a minimum of $1.50 per mile traveled and a minimum of 68 cents per minute of rider transport time. The Labor Commissioner will then announce the annual adjustment in the minimum compensation for each ride based on the percentage change in the employment cost index.

Hiking Business Costs

CBIA testified in opposition to many of the bills, which drastically increase the cost of doing business, open employers to added liability, add overburdensome reporting and administrative requirements, and force employers to spend time and resources on new compliance measures.

“We view each bill through the lens of whether or not it will make the cost of doing business in Connecticut more affordable,” said CBIA’s Paul Amarone.

The Labor Committee must take a broader view of policymaking—look at what's passed in the last few years, what have those policies meant? They didn't lower the cost of living or doing business and only reinforced perceptions the state is anti-business. 1/2 https://t.co/K0oFCcbaHh

— Chris DiPentima (@ChrisDipentima) March 21, 2025

“Unfortunately, many of the bills that were voted out of committee do the opposite.

“From providing unemployment benefits to striking workers at the cost of Connecticut employers, to over regulating the use of AI in the workplace at the cost of innovation, these bills miss the mark on making Connecticut a place employers can operate efficiently.”

As other committees wrap up their work for the 2025 session, the House and Senate will soon begin to meet regularly to act on legislation, including the bills highlighted above.

---

For more information, contact CBIA’s Paul Amarone (860.244.1978)