The Senate Labor Committee heard testimony on SB 194, a warehouse worker protections bill, but took no recorded vote on the measure. The hearing surfaced significant disagreement between the Department of Labor — which argued the bill is legally unnecessary and would cost between $200,000 and $300,000 — and supporters including the Teamsters, who described employers changing quotas mid-shift without notice and firing workers for failing to meet standards they were never told existed.
Senator Lawson asked 'why are we singling out warehouse employees? Are they not covered by the general law now?' Senator Poore acknowledged existing DOL protections but argued the bill adds specific protections given the growth of warehouses. Katie Grasso of the Department of Labor reinforced Lawson's implicit point, testifying that 'legally there is no need for Title 19 to be amended by adding a new chapter, Chapter 39 Warehouse Worker Protections act' because meal, rest, and minimum wage protections already exist in Title 19.
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“Senate Bill 194 will solidify much needed workforce protections for those who work in warehouse distribution centers. Those of us from Newcastle county know that the large warehousing complexes have started cropping up throughout not just my area, but they're heading certainly down south. And while the prospect of new jobs in our state is positive, positive, we need to make sure that those jobs are fair and meet the safety standards for our workforce.”
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Sign in to subscribeWe have neither the technical side or the sponsor. Usually you have one, one of those two. I remember the rules of law. We have to have a virtual option. Testing, Testing. One, two, three. Testing. Testing, one, two, three. Testing, one, two, three. Testing. Testing, one, two, three. Good afternoon, everyone. We are going to. Thank you, Senator Cruz. We are going to kick off the Labor Committee meeting. As we get started here. We have four senators, five. Five. Five members of the committee here. Myself, Senator Townsend. We have Senator Jack Walk, Senator Cole Poorer, Senator Daniel Cruz, and Senator David Lawson. We have a quorum of the committee. And so we are going to start by asking for any proposed edits for the minutes that have been circulated for the June 18 meeting, or if no edits, then ask for a motion to approve, which Senator Cruz had just given. Asking for a second. Senator Lawson has. Are there any objections? There are none. So the minutes from June 18 will be adopted as circulated. We now will move to the one and only bill on the agenda today, Senate Bill number one nine four, sponsored…
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