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Senate hears employee-rights, noncompete and unionization proposals; assistant attorneys general press for bargaining rights
Summary
Witnesses urged the committee to back bills that would create a good-cause discharge standard, ban most noncompetes, restore a workplace "right to sit" and allow assistant attorneys general to vote on union representation; labor groups and assistant AGs highlighted retention and recruitment concerns.
The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee heard testimony Feb. 20 on a package of employee-rights measures and on a request from assistant attorneys general to be allowed to form a collective bargaining unit.
David Bickenbergen, representing Working Vermont, described a multi-part bill (draft 2025-0653) that would establish a good-cause termination standard, ban most noncompete agreements, and create a workplace "right to sit" in jobs that do not require continuous standing. "This bill is really in line with, I see this as a beacon to the rest of the country to come work in Vermont," Bickenbergen said, framing the changes as recruitment and workforce-development tools.
On noncompetes, the committee heard proponents cite a recent Federal Trade Commission rule (now subject to federal action) and academic estimates that banning noncompetes could increase business formation and worker earnings. The draft bill includes exemptions for trade secrets and certain narrowly tailored protections but would generally prohibit post-employment contractual restraints that prevent workers from taking other jobs.
David McClain (assistant attorney general) testified that assistant attorneys general face recruitment and retention problems and that compensation structures in the AG's office do not reliably match published pay scales. McClain described his experience during a heavy litigation period when the civil division was understaffed and said the only reliable remedy for structural pay and bargaining-power issues is collective bargaining. "I've come to the conclusion that the only solution is through a union or the right to unionize," he said. He said about 90 assistant attorneys general work in the office and that a likely bargaining unit would include roughly 75 AAGs.
Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees Association (VSEA), told senators the VSEA supports permitting assistant attorneys general to hold a representation vote and urged parity for supervisory/judiciary staff who currently lack a similar option in the judicial branch. He also asked the committee to equalize the rules for decertifying a union under the card-check procedure: currently a lower threshold governs decertification petitions and VSEA seeks 50%+1 parity with the certification threshold so decertification requires the same level of employee support.
Committee members asked factual questions about numbers and precedent. McClain said other states, including California, Washington and Oregon, have recognized bargaining rights for similar groups. He said starting pay for newly hired assistant attorneys general is low relative to private-sector comparators and that systemic rules for setting compensation have created recruiting pressures.
Senators agreed the proposals merit more study. The committee paused further action to allow the attorney general's office, VSEA and other stakeholders to supply written analyses, pay data, and precedent from other states. No committee vote was taken.
