Public Hearing Testimony of Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo
Department of Labor
Labor and Public Employees Committee
March 10, 2026
Good Morning Senator Kushner, Representative Sanchez, Senator Sampson, Representative Weir and members of the Labor and Public Employees Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with written testimony regarding SB 438: AN ACT REGULATING SELF-CHECKOUT STATIONS IN GROCERY STORES. My name is Danté Bartolomeo and I am the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL).
CTDOL understands that SB 438 would create new statutes to regulate self-checkout stations in grocery stores by requiring grocery stores that offer self-checkout stations (1) to have one manual checkout station operating for every two self-checkout stations operating, (2) to have at least one employee for every two self-checkout stations monitoring such stations, and (3) not to operate more than eight self-checkout stations at any time.
Sec. 1(e) of SB 438 would allow any employee or customer who believes a grocery store is in violation of the requirements of the bill to file a complaint with CTDOL. Subsections (f) and (g) further provides that CTDOL “shall promptly” investigate each complaint and, if that investigation unveils evidence that a violation may have occurred, CTDOL would be required to notify the alleged grocery store of such evidence and allegations. The grocery store would then have thirty days to take corrective action. If, after thirty days of receiving notice from CTDOL, the grocery store fails to take corrective action, the grocery store may be liable to CTDOL for a civil penalty equal to a full day of wages, based on the highest wage paid to a retail clerk at such grocery store, for each day in which the violation
continues.
CTDOL’s primary concerns with SB 438 are in line 27, which allows any grocery store customer to file a complaint, requires CTDOL to “promptly” investigative each claim, and follows with prescriptive timelines for subsequent enforcement. If any customer of a grocery store is authorized to file a complaint, we believe it would lead to an unusually large number of complaints, which would be difficult to investigate in any kind of “prompt” manner. While the agency is in the process of expanding the Wage and Workplace Standards Division staffing, there are a significant number of complaints in the queue which should be prioritized based on the nature and seriousness of the complaints, not based upon mandated timelines. In summary, CTDOL is opposed to SB 438 as the bill is currently written.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with this written testimony regarding these proposals. My staff and I are reachable to further discuss SB 438 by directing any questions you may have to Billy Taylor, Legislative and Administrative Advisor at william.b.taylor@ct.gov or 203-947-4136.
