California Bill Could Force Stores To Close Self-Checkouts

A California bill could change regulations on self-checkouts in stores. Some businesses may have to discontinue this service altogether.

Senator Smallwood-Cuevas introduced California bill SB 1446 in February 2024. This bill would prohibit a grocery or retail drug establishment from providing a self-service checkout option for customers unless specified conditions are satisfied, meaning it would only partially ban self-checkout in the state.

These conditions include having no more than two self-service checkout stations monitored by any one employee and requiring the employee to be relieved of all other duties. Additionally, there must be “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.”

Other conditions include limiting purchases using self-checkout to 10 items or fewer and prohibiting customers from using self-service checkout to purchase items that require a form of identification, like alcohol or tobacco products, or that are subject to “special theft-deterrent measures.”

The bill would then require stores that use self-checkout technology to assess whether it affects essential job functions or eliminates employees’ jobs or job functions. Therefore, these businesses must complete a specified assessment before implementing the technology.

“The bill would require the study to include, among other things, the salaries, benefits, jobs, and work hours that would be eliminated by the workplace technology,” it reads.

This bill will try to preserve jobs that the workplace technology would eliminate. It also looks to maintain the “number of work hours, identified by job classification, that would be eliminated by the workplace technology.”

Retailers must notify and seek input from their employees at least 60 days before drafting the study.

The bill’s proposal is currently being considered by lawmakers in California, and the UFCW union supports it.

“While it’s crucial to adapt these new technologies, we must protect jobs and ensure worker safety,” Senator Smallwood-Cuevas told the Sacramento Bee.