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Senate
sSB438 / File No. 474 1
General Assembly File No. 474
February Session, 2026 Substitute Senate Bill No. 438
Senate, April 7, 2026
The Committee on Labor and Public Employees reported
through SEN. KUSHNER of the 24th Dist., Chairperson of the
Committee on the part of the Senate, that the substitute bill
ought to pass.
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
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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
(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
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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
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
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The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of
the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not
represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general,
fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional
knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final
products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 27 $ FY 28 $
Labor Dept. GF - Potential
Revenue Gain
See Below See Below
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill establishes requirements for grocery store self -checkout
stations and allows employees or customers to file complaint s1
regarding violations with the Department of Labor (DOL). This results
in a potential revenue gain for the DOL to the extent that grocery stores
fail to take corrective actions upon found violations and therefore
subject to civil penalties2.
The bill also prohibits retaliation against employees or customers that
file complaints to the DOL and allows aggravated parties to bring civil
action in Superior Cour t. This does not result in a fiscal impact to the
Judicial Department. The court system disposes of over 250,000 cases
annually and the number of cases is not anticipated to be great enough
to need additional resources.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
1 It is expected the agency can accommodate any potential workload increases within
available resources.
2 The penalty is equal to a full day of wages, based on the highest wage paid to a retail
clerk at such grocery store, for each day the violation continues.
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continue into the future subject to the occurrence of violations and the
collection of associated penalties.
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OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 438
AN ACT REGULATING SELF-CHECKOUT STATIONS IN GROCERY
STORES.
SUMMARY
This bill requires grocery stores with self-checkout stations to have at
least one manual checkout station for every two self -checkout stations,
and at least one employee monitoring every two self-checkout stations.
It prohibits the stores from (1) assigni ng employees to any other duties
while they are monitoring the self -checkout stations and (2) offering
more than eight self-checkout stations at a location.
The bill allows employees or customers to file a complaint about a
violation of the bill with the labor commissioner. Upon receiving a
complaint, the commissioner must promptly investigate and
immediately notify the store if she finds evidence of a violation. Under
the bill, if the grocery store does not correct the violation within 30 days
after receiving the notice, it may be liable to the labor department for a
civil penalty equal to a full day of wages for the store’s highest paid
retail clerk for each day that the violation continues. (The bill does not
further specify what a “full day” or “retail clerk” is for determining this
penalty.)
The bill also prohibits grocery stores from discharging, or
discriminating or retaliating against, an employee or customer who
makes a good faith complaint under the bill . It allows an employee or
customer who believes that a store did so to sue in Superior Court for
damages and injunctive relief.
Lastly, the bill allows the labor commissioner to adopt regulations to
implement the bill’s provisions.
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EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2026
GROCERY STORES & CHECKOUT STATIONS
Under the bill, a “grocery store” is any store that derives most of its
retail sales from “groceries,” which include (1) any raw or processed
food or beverage intended for human consumption and ( 2) when sold
by a retailer that also sells food and beverages, (a) prescription and over-
the-counter drugs, ( b) personal care and hygiene items, and ( c)
household maintenance items. “Groceries” do not include alcoholic
beverages and cannabis products.
A “manual checkout station” is a checkout station with an employee
to help customers by scanning and bagging their purchased items and
taking payment for their purchases. A “self -checkout station” is an
automated checkout station where a customer can scan, bag , and pay
for their purchased items without employee assistance.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 9 Nay 4 (03/19/2026)