🔒Lamont revives warehouse worker protections debate with new 2026 proposal

Gov. Ned Lamont is renewing a push to regulate warehouse productivity quotas, reviving a politically contentious issue that has divided labor advocates, Republicans and the business community for several legislative sessions. At the start of the 2026 legislative session, Lamont has introduced Senate Bill 92, which would establish new rules governing productivity quotas at large warehouse distribution centers. The proposal follows the failure last year of a similar bill that passed the House but stalled in the Senate. Warehouse worker protections have been debated repeatedly at the Capitol amid the rapid expansion of fulfillment centers across Connecticut, driven in part by e-commerce growth. Supporters argue that quota-driven workplaces increase injury risks and discourage legally required meal and bathroom breaks, while opponents say the legislation would impose unnecessary regulation on a sector that has created thousands of jobs. Lamont’s proposal applies to nonexempt employees working at warehouse distribution centers with 250 or more workers at a single site or at least 1,000 employees statewide. Employers would be required to provide written notice of any productivity quotas, inform workers when quotas change, and allow employees to review both individual and aggregated work-speed data used to evaluate performance. The bill would prohibit quotas that interfere with meal periods or bathroom use and would bar employers from counting break time against productivity standards unless a worker is required to remain on call. Employers also would be prohibited from taking adverse action against employees who fail to meet quotas that violate the law or were not properly disclosed. Employees could enforce the law through private civil actions or via the state attorney general. Courts would be authorized to impose civil penalties starting at $1,000 for a first violation and escalating for repeat offenses, and prevailing parties could recover attorney’s fees and costs. The proposal also assigns a monitoring role to the Workers’ Compensation Commission, which would track injury rates at warehouse distribution centers and flag employers with unusually high injury levels for potential review by the Department of Labor. Lamont’s bill closely tracks — but is not identical to — House Bill 6907, which the House approved last May on a largely party-line vote. That bill, inspired in part by labor concerns over the use of quotas and digital monitoring, ultimately failed to advance through the Senate before adjournment. Republicans and business groups criticized last year’s legislation as government overreach that could discourage investment in a growing logistics sector, while labor groups and Democratic lawmakers argued that transparency and limits on quotas are necessary to protect worker health and safety. Senate Bill 92 has been referred to the Labor and Public Employees Committee. If approved, most provisions would take effect in October 2026, with employer compliance requirements beginning in mid-2027.