🔒Striking workers, noncompete limits, worker schedule bills among 48 approved by Labor Committee

After considering a total of 50 bills over the course of seven meetings and three public hearings since the state legislature convened Feb. 4, the Labor and Public Employees Committee completed its work on Thursday. After the first six weeks of the 13-week legislative session, the committee approved 48 of those 50 bills, including at least one that faces a likely veto from Gov. Ned Lamont. That proposal, Senate Bill 440, would allow workers on strike during a labor dispute that begins on or after Dec. 14, 2027, to receive unemployment benefits as long as the strike has been “continuous for 14 days.” During the committee’s final meeting on Thursday, Republican members lambasted the bill as anti-business and an overreach by Democrats in the legislature. Last year, a similar bill passed both the House and Senate, predominantly along party lines, but was one of three bills vetoed by Lamont, who described it as “a bridge too far.” Lamont has said during this session that he still does not support the idea. The two bills the Labor Committee did not approve were SB 437, which would have required the state Labor Commissioner to study the jobs that 16- and 17-year-olds are currently prohibited from holding under state and federal law, and SB 92, which sought to establish certain protections for warehouse workers. The latter bill died in committee mostly because a separate bill that included similar proposals, SB 298, has been approved by both chambers in the legislature and was signed into law earlier this week by Lamont. In addition to the striking workers bill, the Labor Committee approved several other bills that stirred controversy during the session. Here is a look at some of those bills:

• SB 436: Would require employers in the retail, hospitality, food service and long-term care industries to provide employees with their work schedules at least 14 days in advance, and to pay additional compensation when they make schedule changes after posting a schedule.
• SB 438: Would limit the use of self-checkout lanes at grocery stores by requiring retailers to operate at least one staffed checkout lane for every two self-checkout stations, assign one employee to monitor every two machines and limit locations to no more than eight self-checkout stations.
• House Bill 5492: Would prohibit the use of noncompete agreements and exclusivity agreements unless they meet certain criteria.
• HB 5386: Would require employers with 50 or more employees to create and post a public pay code guide that clearly states overtime codes and any pay differentials used on employee wage statements.
• HB 5279: Would add witnessing a “serious physical injury” that does not result in death or permanent disfigurement as a qualifying event for an employee to be eligible for workers' compensation coverage for a post-traumatic stress injury.

All 48 of the bills approved by the Labor Committee have been filed with the Legislative Commissioners' Office and await further action by the House and Senate, which have until May 6 to act on them.