AI Frontier Institute

An act relating to restricting electronic monitoring of employees and the use of employment-related automated decision systems

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Vermont H.262 has not been enacted. It was referred to the Committee on General and Housing on 2025-02-19. If enacted, it would add 21 V.S.A. § 495q, which restricts employers' electronic monitoring of employees and their use of automated decision systems (ADS) for employment decisions. "Employee" would include job applicants and independent contractors. Monitoring (subsec. (b)) would be allowed only for listed purposes, such as performing essential job functions, production or quality monitoring, legal compliance, safety, securing property, periodic performance assessment, or tracking time worked. It would also have to be necessary, the least invasive option, and limited in scope, data and frequency, with access restricted to authorized persons. Employers would give at least 15 days' written notice with detailed contents, in the employee's primary language, with limited exceptions for suspected illegal conduct, and an annual list of monitoring systems (subsec. (c)). Subsec. (d) would prohibit monitoring of off-duty employees and of private areas such as bathrooms and locker rooms. It would also bar monitoring to learn about protected characteristics or to target employees exercising legal rights, and bar adverse action based on continuous incremental time-tracking data. Subsec. (e) would limit required personal-device apps and wearables and ban required body implants. For ADS, subsec. (f) would bar uses that violate law, predict emotions or personality, predict the exercise of legal rights, or use customer or client data as input. Employers could not rely solely on ADS outputs and would need human corroboration, an impact assessment and notice. ADS outputs about physical or mental health could not be used. Subsec. (g) would require a written impact assessment before use. Subsec. (h) would ban facial, gait, voice and emotion recognition in monitoring and ADS. Subsec. (i) would require data security and return or destruction of data by vendors. Subsec. (j) would give employees access to their data and the right to request corrections within seven days. Subsec. (k) would prohibit retaliation, and subsec. (l) would apply the enforcement provisions of section 495b. Sec. 2 would make the act effective July 1, 2025.

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