SB 435, An Act Concerning Automated Decision Systems Protections For Employees

TESTIMONY OF THE CONNECTICUT HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION
SUBMITTED TO THE LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES COMMITTEE

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

The Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) appreciates this opportunity to submit testimony concerning SB 435, An Act Concerning Automated Decision Systems Protections For Employees.  CHA opposes the bill.

Connecticut hospitals make our state stronger by delivering nationally recognized, world-class care, supporting jobs and economic growth, and serving communities across Connecticut.  Every day, hospitals improve access, affordability, and health equity — providing care to all patients regardless of ability to pay.  At the same time, hospitals invest in their workforce and local communities, even as they navigate significant financial and federal challenges.

Hospitals employ tens of thousands of individuals across Connecticut and are deeply committed to equitable hiring, promotion, and employment practices.  SB 435 as currently drafted would create an extremely broad and complex regulatory framework governing routine workplace technologies on which hospitals rely every day to manage their workforce.  As a result, the bill would be operationally unworkable for hospitals and could unintentionally disrupt workforce management at a time when healthcare providers continue to face significant staffing shortages.

The bill’s definition of an “automated employment-related decision process” is extraordinarily broad and would encompass many routine workforce management tools used in modern hospital operations.  Hospitals rely on a wide range of digital systems to support human resources functions, including applicant tracking systems, credentialing databases, scheduling platforms, timekeeping systems, and workforce analytics tools.  These systems do not make employment decisions independently; rather, they help human resources staff and managers organize large volumes of information and identify qualified candidates in high-volume hiring environments.  Because the bill covers any computational process that assists in employment decisions, even basic tools that simply help sort applications or generate staffing schedules could fall within its scope.  This would effectively subject a large portion of routine human resources technology used by hospitals to the bill’s extensive regulatory requirements.

The bill’s bias audit requirements would create significant operational and financial burdens for hospitals.  SB 435 requires employers to conduct independent bias audits before deploying covered systems and annually thereafter.  Hospitals typically use multiple vendor-provided workforce systems, many of which contain proprietary algorithms or software that hospitals themselves do not control.  Hospitals may not have access to the underlying data or code necessary for an independent auditor to conduct the type of detailed analysis contemplated by the bill.  As a result, hospitals could find themselves unable to use widely adopted workforce management tools unless vendors fundamentally redesign their products to comply with the new requirements.  This would create significant uncertainty and cost for healthcare providers.

The extensive notice and documentation requirements contained in the bill would be extremely difficult to implement in a healthcare workforce environment.  Hospitals regularly process large numbers of employment decisions, including hiring new clinical staff, transferring employees between departments, promoting internal candidates, and adjusting schedules to respond to patient care needs.  The bill requires detailed disclosures regarding automated systems, data collection practices, and audit results, as well as documentation of human review of decisions involving automated tools.  These requirements could significantly slow hiring and staffing processes and increase administrative workload for human resources staff, diverting resources away from patient care operations.

SB 435 could create new legal risks and uncertainty for hospitals that are already subject to extensive state and federal employment discrimination laws.  Hospitals must comply with numerous laws designed to prevent discrimination in hiring and employment practices, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act.  The bill would layer an additional regulatory structure on top of these existing protections and could expose hospitals to new forms of litigation relating to the use of common workforce technologies.

We are particularly concerned about the potential impact of SB 435 on workforce management tools used to ensure appropriate staffing levels in clinical settings.  Healthcare providers must constantly adjust staffing in response to changing patient needs, unexpected absences, and fluctuating demand for services.  Technology tools that assist with scheduling, staffing analysis, and recruitment are critical to maintaining safe and efficient hospital operations. The bill’s requirements could delay or complicate the use of these tools at a time when hospitals are working to address ongoing workforce shortages and maintain access to care for patients.

Hospitals strongly support efforts to ensure that emerging technologies are used responsibly and fairly in the workplace.  However, the bill’s sweeping scope and complex compliance requirements would create significant operational challenges for healthcare providers without clearly improving employee protections beyond those already provided by existing law.

For these reasons, we oppose SB 435.

Thank you for your consideration of our position.  For additional information, contact CHA Government Relations at (203) 294-7301.