Connecticut SB 438: AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE AUDITORS OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

Bill Text

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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 438
February Session, 2026

AN ACT REGULATING SELF-CHECKOUT STATIONS IN GROCERY
STORES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2026) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "Grocery store" means any store that derives a majority of such 2
store's retail sales from groceries; 3
(2) "Groceries" includes (A) any raw or processed food or beverage 4
intended for human consumption, and (B) when sold by a retailer that 5
also sells food and beverages, (i) prescription and over-the-counter 6
drugs, (ii) personal care and hygiene items, and (iii) household 7
maintenance items. "Groceries" does not include alcoholic beverages 8
and cannabis products; 9
(3) "Manual checkout station" means a checkout station in which 10
there is an employee to provide assistance to customers by scanning and 11
bagging items purchased by customers and taking payment for such 12
customers' purchases; and 13
(4) "Self-checkout station" means an automated checkout station in 14
which a customer can scan, bag and pay for such customer's items 15
purchased without employee assistance. 16
(b) Any grocery store that offers a self-checkout station shall: 17

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(1) Provide not fewer than one manual checkout station for every two 18
self-checkout stations offered at a location; and 19
(2) Have not fewer than one employee for every two self-checkout 20
stations monitoring such stations. 21
(c) No employee assigned to monitor self-checkout stations pursuant 22
to subdivision (2) of subsection (b) of this section shall be assigned any 23
other duties while monitoring such stations. 24
(d) No grocery store shall offer more than eight self-checkout stations 25
at a location at any time. 26
(e) An employee or customer who believes a grocery store has 27
violated the provisions of this section may file a complaint with the 28
Labor Commissioner alleging such violation. 29
(f) Upon receipt of a complaint alleging a violation pursuant to 30
subsection (e) of this section, the commissioner shall promptly 31
investigate such alleged violation. If the commissioner finds evidence of 32
such a violation, the commissioner shall immediately notify the grocery 33
store of such evidence and allegations. 34
(g) If, after thirty days of receiving a notice of a violation of this 35
section pursuant to subsection (f) of this section, the grocery store fails 36
to take corrective action, such grocery store may be liable to the Labor 37
Department for a civil penalty equal to a full day of wages, based on the 38
highest wage paid to a retail clerk at such grocery store, for each day in 39
which the violation continues. 40
(h) The commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance with the 41
provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes, to implement the 42
provisions of this section. 43
(i) No grocery store shall discharge, or in any manner discriminate or 44
retaliate against, any employee or customer who in good faith makes a 45
complaint pursuant to subsection (e) of this section. An employee or 46
customer who believes a grocery store violated the provisions of this 47

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subsection may bring a civil action in the Superior Court to recover 48
damages and such injunctive relief as the court deems appropriate. 49
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:

Section 1 October 1, 2026 New section

Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Subsec. (f), "alleged" was deleted for accuracy.

LAB Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO