Stop Spying Bosses Act

Key Points

• The bill bans employers from collecting data to identify union activity, monitor whistleblowers, ascertain political opinions or religious views unrelated to job duties, or predict emotions and behaviors unrelated to work. It also prohibits collecting data that could threaten a worker's mental or physical health.
• Employers must clearly disclose to each worker what data is being collected, how and where it is gathered, how often, who has access, and how it affects work-related decisions like performance reviews or promotions. These disclosures must be in plain language, accessible to people with disabilities, and provided in the worker's primary language.
• Workers gain the right to access all employee data their employer has collected on them, request corrections to incomplete or erroneous data, and ask their employer to reconsider any work-related decision based on corrected data. Employers must provide this access within 30 days of a request.
• The bill creates a new Worker Protection and Technology Division within the Department of Labor, led by a presidentially appointed Administrator, with power to investigate employers, issue orders and guidance, and coordinate with agencies like the FTC and EEOC.
• Employers are completely banned from selling or licensing worker data. They also cannot transfer data to third parties except as required by law, and transfers to service providers require worker opt-in for each instance.
• Workers get a private right of action to sue in federal court, with double actual damages and statutory damages up to $40,000 per violation (or $100,000 for whistleblower retaliation). The bill also voids forced arbitration agreements and class action waivers for disputes under this law.