Committee hears three labor bills: 32-hour week, limits on employee monitoring and a ‘right to disconnect’ proposal

Bonnie Priestley presented three related labor bills to the House Committee on General & Housing, framing them as a package addressing evolving workplace technology and work‑life balance: H.261 (a 32‑hour work‑week proposal), H.262 (electronic monitoring and automated decision systems), and H.263 (a right‑to‑disconnect measure).

On H.261, Priestley explained the bill would change statutory references that presume a 40‑hour full‑time work week to 32 hours and leave the mechanics of benefits and sectoral exemptions to further legislative detail. “This bill really just establishes… everything is focused on 40 hours of work per week, and this is really just suggesting that you go down to 32,” Priestley said. She and members discussed common questions: whether pay would fall to four‑fifths of current pay or whether productivity gains could maintain wages, how overtime would be handled, and which sectors (health care, food service, emergency services) might need exemptions. Committee members also noted that paid sick leave eligibility in Vermont currently begins at 18 hours per week.

H.262 would require employers to provide notice about monitoring tools, apply data‑minimization standards, and prohibit certain surveillance practices in private areas (restrooms, break rooms), personal vehicles and during off‑duty time. Priestley described invasive monitoring practices reported elsewhere — continuous keystroke tracking, chair pressure sensors and in‑cab cameras — and raised concerns about automated decisions driven by those systems. The draft bill would restrict collection of biometric or emotion‑recognition data, require notice and set anti‑retaliation protections for employees.

H.263, the right‑to‑disconnect bill, would limit employer ability to penalize employees for not responding to communications outside defined working hours while preserving exceptions for emergencies and scheduling needs. Priestley characterized it as a short mental‑health and work‑life balance measure.

Committee members asked about where these policies had been piloted and whether states have mandated 32‑hour weeks; Priestley said some local experiments and national pilot programs exist but that most U.S. implementations have been voluntary or limited in scope. Members also asked about current prevalence of monitoring in Vermont workplaces and about administrative impacts for employers. Priestley said she would follow up with citations to studies and examples discussed in previous testimony.

The transcript records presentation and Q&A only; no committee votes or referrals were recorded during this session.