Senate BillPassed first houseLabor
SB 442: Grocery retail store and retail drug establishment employees: self-service checkout.
What SB 442 does, verified December 13, 2025
This bill aims to regulate the use of self-service checkouts in grocery retail stores and retail drug establishments. To avoid imposing self-service checkouts, employers must have at least one manual checkout station staffed by an employee available to customers at the time of checkout. Employers offering self-service checkouts must include this service in their illness and prevention program and notify workers, their representatives, and the public at least 60 days in advance. Employees are protected from retaliation for reporting violations of these provisions. The bill establishes a civil penalty of $10,000 per day for violations, up to a maximum of $200,000.
Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
✓In CommitteeComplete
✓First Chamber FloorComplete
4Second ChamberCurrent
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: August 29 hearing postponed by committee. (2025-08-29)Alert me
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| Aug. 29, 2025 | August 29 hearing postponed by committee. |
| Jul. 09, 2025 | July 9 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file. |
| Jul. 09, 2025 | July 9 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file. |
| Jun. 26, 2025 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
| Jun. 26, 2025 | Coauthors revised. |
Latest bill textAmended version, April 21, 2025 · 1,920 words
| Amended IN Senate April 21, 2025 |
| Amended IN Senate March 27, 2025 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 442
| Introduced by Senator Smallwood-Cuevas (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Lowenthal) (Coauthors: Senators Cortese and Durazo) (Coauthors: Assembly Members McKinnor and Ortega) |
February 18, 2025 |
An act to add Part 9.6 (commencing with Section 2530) to Division 2 of the Labor Code, relating to employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 442, as amended, Smallwood-Cuevas. Grocery retail store and retail drug establishment employees: self-service checkout.
Existing law imposes certain requirements on grocery employers, as defined, upon the purchase or change in control of a grocery establishment, including requiring a successor grocery employer to retain eligible grocery workers for a specified period after transfer of the grocery establishment.
This bill would prohibit a grocery retail store or a retail drug establishment, as those terms are defined, from providing a self-service checkout option for customers unless specified conditions are satisfied, including having at least one manual checkout station staffed by an employee who is available to any given customer at the time that a self-service checkout option is made available to that customer.
This bill would require a grocery retail store or retail drug establishment that offers self-service checkout to include self-service checkout in the employer’s illness and prevention program, as required by regulations of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. The bill also would require a grocery retail store or retail drug establishment that intends to implement self-checkout to notify workers, their collective bargaining representatives, and the public workers and their collective bargaining representatives at least 60 days in advance of the implementation, as specified. The bill would prohibit an employer from taking certain actions against an employee who seeks to remedy violations of these provisions, as specified. The bill would not preempt any city, county, or city and county ordinance that provides equal or greater protection to workers.
This bill would establish remedies and penalties for a violation of the bill’s provisions, including make an employer who violates the bill’s provisions subject to a civil penalty of $10,000 for each day in violation, $1,000 per violation per day, not to exceed an aggregate penalty of $200,000.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) In 2011, California passed into law Assembly Bill 183 (Ch. 726, Stats. 2011) which banned the sale of alcohol via self-checkout machines. This was in response to “evidence of inadequate staffing, inconsistent monitoring, and technological failures” at self-checkout that increased illegal purchases of alcohol and harmed public health, as cited in the bill’s April 13, 2011, committee analysis.
(b) Since then, self-checkout has rapidly spread in retail grocery and drug stores, with some stores that do not sell alcohol having eliminated human workers from checkout entirely.
(c) Retailers have increasingly implemented automated checkout to drastically cut staffing and reduce labor costs.
(d) Self-checkout and the reduction in frontline grocery workers have created a range of problems for retailers, workers, and the public.
(e) For example, while companies proclaim there has been an increase in retail theft, much of the losses they allege can actually be traced to self-checkout and the reduction in their workforce.
(f) Data shows that self-checkout machines cause 16 times more shrink than checkout via a cashier. In 2022, self-checkout accounted for under 30 percent of total transactions, yet self-checkout machines have cost food retailers more than $10 billion in lost profits annually.
(g) Nearly 7 percent of self-checkout transactions had at least some partial shrink compared to 0.32 percent with cashiers. On a revenue basis, this suggests a shrink rate of 3.5 percent for self-checkout machines versus only 0.21 percent for full-service cashier stations staffed by an employee.
(h) The elimination of workers’ jobs due to self-checkout is especially harmful. The reduction in frontline checkers has caused a crisis with chronic understaffing and an overworked workforce. Self-checkout machines are notoriously glitchy, which creates more work for the reduced workforce and workers are expected to monitor anywhere from 4 to 10 machines on their own.
(i) Regulation of self-checkout is needed because many Californians live in areas where, as a practical matter, they can only shop for food at one grocery store. As large, publicly traded grocery chains have merged and closed stores as a result, Californians currently have less choice about where to buy food than at any time in the state’s history. Moreover, given transportation and childcare costs, working people and economically disadvantaged families are especially unable to travel long distances after work to shop at a store further away than whatever store happens to be closest to where they live.
(j) For these reasons, legislation is required to ensure that deployment and use of self-checkout in grocery stores does not increase crime, increase cost that is passed onto consumers in higher food prices, and increase unemployment or underemployment.
SEC. 2.
Part 9.6 (commencing with Section 2530) is added to Division 2 of the Labor Code, to read:PART 9.6. Grocery Retail Stores and Retail Drug Establishments
2530.
For purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:(a) “Grocery retail store” includes both of the following:
(1) “Grocery establishment” means a retail store in this state that is over 15,000 square feet in size and that sells primarily household foodstuffs for offsite consumption, including, but not limited to, fresh produce, meats, poultry, fish, deli products, dairy products, canned foods, dry foods, beverages, baked foods, or prepared foods, with the sale of household supplies or other products being secondary to the primary purpose of food sales.
(2) “Superstore” means a store in this state that is over 75,000 square feet in size, that generates sales or use tax pursuant to the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law (Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 7200) of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code), and that devotes more than 10 percent of sales floor area to the sale of nontaxable merchandise.
(b) “Manual checkout station” means a station that is not a self-service checkout station and at which an employee provides human assistance to a customer scanning, bagging, or accepting payment for the customer’s purchases.
(c) “Retail drug establishment” means a person, including an individual, a corporation, a partnership, a limited partnership, a limited liability partnership, a limited liability company, a business trust, an estate, a trust, an association, a joint venture, a proprietorship, a joint venture, an agency, an instrumentality, a corporate officer, an executive, or any other legal or commercial entity, whether domestic or foreign, that has 75 or more businesses or establishments located within the state and is identified as a retail business or establishment in the North American Industry Classification System within the retail trade category 45611.
(d) “Self-service checkout” means an automated process that enables customers to scan, bag, and pay for their purchases without human assistance.
(e) “Self-service checkout station” means a station at a fixed location within the grocery retail store or retail drug establishment at which a customer can engage in a self-service checkout for the customer’s purchases.
2531.
(a) A grocery retail store or retail drug establishment shall not provide a self-service checkout option for customers unless all of the following conditions are satisfied:(1) At least one manual checkout station is staffed by an employee of the establishment who is available to any given customer at the time that a self-service checkout option is made available to that customer.
(2) (A) The employer has established a workplace policy that limits self-service checkouts to purchases of no more than 15 items.
(B) (i) The establishment shall include signage within the self-service checkout area indicating the number of items that are permitted through the self-service checkout station.
(ii) For purposes of this section, an employer is not considered in violation of subclause (i) or subject to a penalty under this part if a customer purchases more than 15 items at a self-service checkout station, so long as the employer otherwise complies with the workplace policy and signage requirements set forth in this subdivision.
(3) The employer has established a workforce policy that prohibits customers from using self-service checkout to purchase either of the following:
(A) Items that require customers to provide a form of identification, including, but not limited to, alcohol and tobacco products.
(B) Items subject to special theft-deterrent measures, measures that are affixed to the item, including, but not limited to, locked cabinets and electronic article surveillance tags, surveillance, ink, or other tags, that require the intervention of an employee of the establishment for the customer to access or purchase the item. to remove before purchase.
(4) An employee shall be relieved from all not be assigned any other duties duties, including, but not limited to, operating a manual checkout station when monitoring or assisting customers at a self-service checkout station, including, but not limited to, operating a manual checkout station.
(b) A grocery retail store or retail drug establishment that offers self-service checkout shall include self-service checkout in their analysis of potential work hazards for purposes of their injury and illness prevention programs required by Section 3203 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.
2532.
(b)The grocery retail store or retail drug establishment shall notify the public of its intent to implement self-checkout at least 60 days in advance of the implementation by posting the notice in a location accessible to the grocery retail store’s or retail drug establishment’s employees and customers.
2533.
(b)Upon the filing of a complaint by an employee, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement shall also enforce this part, including investigating an alleged violation, and ordering appropriate relief.
(c)In addition to other remedies as may be provided by the laws of this state or its subdivisions, any public prosecutor, as defined by Section 180, may also institute an action for a violation of this part, including an action seeking injunctive relief.
(d)An employer shall not discharge, threaten to discharge, demote, suspend, retaliate against, or in any manner discriminate against a worker filing a complaint with the Labor Commissioner alleging a violation of this part, cooperating in an investigation of an alleged violation of this part, or opposing any policy or practice that is prohibited by this part.
2534.
This part does not preempt any city, county, or city and county ordinance that provides equal or greater protection to workers who are covered by this part.Text of SB 442 as amended, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions