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Substitute Senate Bill No. 472
Public Act No. 26-73
AN ACT CONCERNING THE ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE OF
EMPLOYEES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 31 -48d of the general statutes is repealed and the
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2026):
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Employer" means any person, firm or corporation, including the
state and any political subdivision of the state which has employees;
(2) "Employee" means any person who performs services for an
employer in a business of the employer, if the employer has the right to
control and direct the person as to (A) the result to be accomplished by
the services, and (B) the details and means by which such result is
accomplished; and
(3) "Electronic monitoring" means the collection of information on an
employer's premises concerning employees' activities or
communications by any means other than direct observation, including
the use of a computer, telephone, wire, radio, camera, electromag netic,
photoelectronic or photo -optical systems, but not including the
collection of information (A) for security purposes in common areas of
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the employer's premises which are held out for use by the public, or (B)
which is prohibited under state or federal law.
(b) (1) Except as provided in [subdivision] subdivisions (2) and (3) of
this subsection, each employer who engages in any type of electronic
monitoring shall give prior written notice to all employees who may be
affected, informing them of the types of monitoring which may occur
and the specific locations on the employer's premises where such
monitoring may occur. Each employer shall post, in a conspicuous place
which is readily available for viewing by its employees , including, but
not limited to, in the specific location on the employer's premises where
such monitoring may occur, a notice concerning the types of electronic
monitoring which the employer may engage in and the specific
locations on the employer's premises where such monitoring may occur.
Such posting shall constitute such prior written notice. Each employer
who engages in any type of electronic monitoring shall also provide
each employee hired on or after October 1, 2026, with a plain language
statement in writing advising which activities are prohibited and may
be monitored without giving prior written notice , as described in
subdivision (2) of this subsection, prior to the employee commencing
employment.
(2) When (A) an employer has reasonable grounds to believe that
employees are engaged in conduct which (i) violates the law, (ii) violates
the legal rights of the employer or the employer's employees, or (iii)
creates a hostile workplace environment, and (B) electronic monitoring
may produce evidence of this misconduct, the employer may conduct
monitoring without giving prior written notice.
(3) The provisions of this subsection requiring an employer to
disclose the specific location of the employer's premises where
electronic monitoring may occur shall not apply (A) if such premises are
an airport, or (B) when an employer has reasonable grounds to conduct
such monitoring for security and employee safety purposes.
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(c) The Labor Commissioner may levy a civil penalty against any
person that the commissioner finds to be in violation of subsection (b)
of this section, after a hearing conducted in accordance with sections 4 -
176e to 4 -184, inclusive. The maximum civil penalty shall be five
hundred dollars for the first offense, one thousand dollars for the second
offense and three thousand dollars for the third and each subsequent
offense.
(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to a criminal
investigation. Any information obtained in the course of a criminal
investigation through the use of electronic monitoring may be used in a
disciplinary proceeding against an employee.