Bill Text: CA SB1446 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 1446

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Grocery establishment and retail drug establishment employees: self-service checkout and technologies affecting essential job functions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-06 - May 6 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file. [SB1446 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB1446-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate March 20, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 1446

Introduced by Senator Smallwood-Cuevas

February 16, 2024

An act to ~~amend Section 2012 of~~ add Part 9.6 (commencing with Section 2530) to Division 2 of the Labor Code, relating to private employment.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 1446, as amended, Smallwood-Cuevas. ~~Employment conditions.~~ Grocery establishment and retail drug establishment employees: self-service checkout and technologies affecting essential job functions.

Existing law imposes certain requirements on grocery employers, as defined, upon the purchase or change in control of a grocery establishment, including requiring a successor grocery employer to retain eligible grocery workers for a specified period after transfer of the grocery establishment.
This bill would prohibit a grocery establishment or a retail drug establishment from providing a self-service checkout option for customers unless specified conditions are satisfied, including having no more than 2 self-service checkout stations monitored by any one employee and requiring the employee to be relieved of all other duties. The bill would require a grocery establishment or retail drug establishment that offers self-service checkout to include self-service checkout in a specified analysis of potential work hazards for purposes of their injury and illness prevention programs. The bill would require a grocery establishment or retail drug establishment that develops or implements technology that significantly affects the essential job functions or eliminates jobs or essential job functions of its employees, or that enables self-service, to complete a specified assessment before implementing the technology. The bill would require the study to include, among other things, the salaries, benefits, jobs, and work hours that would be eliminated by the workplace technology. The bill would require the grocery establishment or retail drug establishment to notify and solicit input from its employees at least 60 days before drafting the study, to provide the study to employees or their collective bargaining representatives at least 60 days before implementation, and to post a copy of the study in a location accessible to its employees and customers before, and for at least 90 days following, implementation of the workplace technology.
Existing law requires the Department of Industrial Relations to keep advised of the industrial conditions in the state that affect employment of labor and, in certain specified circumstances, study and report to the Governor whether a period of extraordinary unemployment caused by industrial depression exists.
~~This bill would additionally require the department to report its findings to appropriate committees of the Legislature.~~

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Part 9.6 (commencing with Section 2530) is added to Division 2 of the Labor Code, to read:

PART 9.6. Grocery establishments and retail drug establishments
2530.
For purposes of this part, the following definitions shall apply:
(a) “Grocery establishment” is as defined in Section 2502.
(b) “Manual checkout station” means a station that is not a self-service checkout station and at which an employee provides human assistance to a customer scanning, bagging, or accepting payment for the customer’s purchases.
(c) “Retail drug establishment” means a person, including an individual, a corporation, a partnership, a limited partnership, a limited liability partnership, a limited liability company, a business trust, an estate, a trust, an association, a joint venture, a proprietorship, a joint venture, an agency, an instrumentality, a corporate officer, an executive, or any other legal or commercial entity, whether domestic or foreign, that has one or more businesses or establishments located within the state and is identified as a retail business or establishment in the North American Industry Classification System within the retail trade category 45611.
(d) “Self-service checkout” means an automated process that enables customers to scan, bag, and pay for their purchases without human assistance.
(e) “Self-service checkout station” means a station at which a customer can engage in a self-service checkout for the customer’s purchases.
2531.
(a) A grocery establishment or retail drug establishment shall not provide a self-service checkout option for customers unless all of the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) At least one manual checkout station is staffed by an employee of the establishment who is available to any given customer at the time that a self-service checkout option is made available to that customer.
(2) (A) Self-service checkouts are limited to purchases of 10 or fewer items.
(B) The establishment shall include signage within the self-service checkout area indicating that only 10 or fewer items are permitted through the self-service checkout station.
(3) Customers are prohibited from using self-service checkout to purchase either of the following:
(A) Items that require customers to provide a form of identification, including, but not limited to, alcohol and tobacco products.
(B) Items subject to special theft-deterrent measures, including, but not limited to, locked cabinets and electronic article surveillance tags, that require the intervention of an employee of the establishment for the customer to access or purchase the item.
(4) (A) No more than two self-service checkout stations are simultaneously monitored by any one employee of the establishment.
(B) An employee shall be relieved from all other duties when monitoring a self-service checkout station, including, but not limited to, operating a manual checkout station.
(b) A grocery establishment or retail drug establishment that offers self-service checkout shall include self-service checkout in their analysis of potential work hazards for purposes of their injury and illness prevention programs required by Section 3203 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.
2532.
(a) For purposes of this section, “worker and consumer impact assessment” means a study evaluating the potential negative effects on employees, consumers, or the public of a new or modified workplace technology that significantly affects the essential job functions of employees, eliminates jobs or essential job functions of employees, or that enables self-service by customers. A worker and consumer impact assessment shall include all of the following:
(1) A detailed description of the workplace technology, its intended purpose, and justification for adoption by the employer.
(2) A description of the data used by the technology, including the specific categories of data that will be processed as input and any data used to train the technology.
(3) The number of employees, identified by job classification, whose duties would be affected by the workplace technology, as well as a description of how the duties of employees in each job classification would be affected.
(4) The number of jobs, identified by job classification, that would be eliminated by the workplace technology.
(5) The number of work hours, identified by job classification, that would be eliminated by the workplace technology.
(6) The total amount of salaries and benefits that would be eliminated as a result of the workplace technology.
(7) A description of the potential gaps in skills of employees affected by the workplace technology that may result from the workplace technology.
(8) The total amount budgeted for, and descriptions of, training and retraining programs for affected employees.
(9) An analysis of whether there will be human oversight of the workplace technology.
(10) An analysis of the potential effect of the workplace technology on consumers, including any barriers to access that the technology could create for certain populations of consumers, including, but not limited to, seniors, the disabled, the unbanked, those without access to appropriate technology, youth, or other vulnerable populations.
(11) An analysis of the potential health and safety hazards created for employees, customers, or the public at large by the workplace technology and what measures the employer will take to mitigate those potential hazards.
(12) What data will be collected from employees and consumers by the workplace technology and whether they will have the option to opt-out of personal data collection.
(b) A grocery establishment or retail drug establishment that develops, procures, uses, or otherwise implements artificial intelligence, automation, or any new or modified technology that significantly affects the essential job functions of its employees, eliminates jobs or essential job functions of its employees, or that enables self-service by its customers shall complete a worker and consumer impact assessment before implementing the technology. The grocery establishment or retail drug establishment shall notify and solicit input from its employees potentially affected by the workplace technology, or their collective bargaining representative, at least 60 days before drafting the worker and consumer impact assessment.
(c) The worker and consumer impact assessment shall be provided to employees potentially affected by the workplace technology, or their collective bargaining representative, 60 days before implementation of the workplace technology. The grocery establishment or retail drug establishment shall also post a copy of the worker and consumer impact assessment in a location accessible to its employees and customers before, and for at least 90 days following, implementation of the workplace technology.

SECTION 1.Section 2012 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
2012.
The department shall keep constantly advised of industrial conditions throughout the State as affecting the employment of labor. Whenever the Governor represents or the division has reason to believe, that a period of extraordinary unemployment caused by industrial depression exists in the state, it shall immediately hold an inquiry into the facts relating thereto, and report to the Governor and appropriate committees of the Legislature whether, in fact, such condition exists.