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HF 4451

Use of electronic monitoring tools in employment settings regulated.

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by David Gottfried

Minnesota HF 4451 would establish strong privacy protections for workers by requiring pre-use notices, data minimization, access rights, and a formal appeals process for electronic

Introduction and first reading, referred to Workforce, Labor, and Economic Development Finance and Policy
#employmentandeconomicdevelopmentdepartment #telecommunicationsandinformationtechnology
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Bill Summary · HF 4451

Summary of HF 4451 (Minnesota, 2025-2026)

Purpose and intent

HF 4451 proposes new Minnesota law to regulate the use of electronic monitoring tools in employment settings. The core aim is to protect workers’ privacy and rights by requiring pre-use notices, strict limitations on data collection and use, clear rights to access and challenge data, and robust enforcement. The bill would codify definitions related to AI, automated decision systems, worker data, and electronic monitoring, and set comprehensive governance around how monitoring tools may be deployed and managed.

Key provisions and changes

  • Definitions (Sec. 1, 181.9931):

    • Establishes precise terms for artificial intelligence, automated decision systems, electronic monitoring tools, worker data, and related concepts (e.g., authorized representatives, vendors, workers, employment-related decisions, essential job functions).

  • Pre-use notice (Sec. 2, 181.9932):

    • Employers must provide written pre-use notices to affected workers or their authorized representatives, and to unions, detailing: purpose, scope, data collected, tools used, data access, and rights.
    • Notices must be plain language, available in the worker’s routine language, and delivered at requirements outlined (e.g., 30 days before new tools or 9/1/2026 for existing tools).
    • Notices must be submitted to the Commissioner of Labor and Industry within 10 days, and workers must affirmatively consent before monitoring begins.
    • Workers may opt out if reasonable alternatives exist.
    • Contents must include a detailed description of data, purposes, activities monitored, data storage, vendors, access, use as inputs to automated systems, productivity assessments, current tools, and workers’ rights.

  • Recordkeeping (Sec. 3, 181.9933):

    • Data retention: 36 months for data collected; destruction by 37 months unless the worker consents to longer retention.
    • Data protection and security requirements.
    • Workers may request copies of their data and corroborating evidence, with responses within 7 days.
    • Rights to correct data, with procedures to investigate, correct, and notify third parties if data is inaccurate.

  • Employer requirements (Sec. 4, 181.9934):

    • Permissible purposes for monitoring include essential job functions, quality control, periodic performance assessments, legal/compliance needs, health/safety/security, and administering wages/benefits.
    • Tools must be narrowly tailored to the stated purpose, limited to the smallest necessary workforce, and avoid collecting more data than needed.
    • Prohibitions on using monitoring to circumvent laws, infer sensitive characteristics, monitor off-duty activity, or gather data not disclosed in the notice.
    • Prohibition on implantable devices, personal device monitoring, or location tracking beyond work hours when not essential.
    • No adverse action against workers solely for continuous time-tracking data, except for egregious misconduct.
    • Employment decisions must not rely solely on monitoring data; require corroboration by a designated internal reviewer with appropriate expertise and protections.

  • Post-use notice and access (Sec. 5, 181.9935):

    • If monitoring data informs a decision, employers must notify the worker (timing: up to 15 business days post-decision, or at least 30 days before discipline/termination).
    • Notices must be standalone, in routine language, and provide rights to appeal and access to data.

  • Right to access (Sec. 5):

    • Workers can request their data, the monitoring tool details, and corroborating evidence; providers must assist and respond within 14 days.
    • Service providers must aid in fulfilling access requests.

  • Right to appeal (Sec. 6, 181.9936):

    • Workers may appeal employment decisions based on monitoring data.
    • Appeals process includes a form, access to data and corroborating evidence, an internal reviewer with authority to overturn, and a written outcome.
    • Overturned decisions must be rectified within 5 business days.

  • Data sale and security (Sec. 7, 181.9937):

    • Prohibits sale or unnecessary sharing of worker data; imposes security requirements on vendors; joint liability for breaches; breach notice requirements; data return and deletion at contract end.

  • Enforcement (Sec. 8, 181.9938):

    • Prohibits retaliation for exercising rights.
    • Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, the Attorney General, or a worker or their representative may pursue enforcement; civil remedies include damages, penalties ($1,000 per violation for some provisions; $2,500 per violation for others), and injunctive relief.
    • Joint and several liability for employers and engaged vendors/contractors.
    • Preemption: does not preempt more protective local ordinances.
    • Model notice language to be published by the department.

Who is affected

  • Employers using or planning to use electronic monitoring tools.
  • Workers, job applicants, and independent contractors who may be monitored.
  • Unions representing workers.
  • Vendors, contractors, and labor contractors providing monitoring services.
  • State and local governmental bodies, with enforcement by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

Procedural and timeline aspects

  • Introduction and first reading: March 18, 2026.
  • Key compliance timelines include:
    • 30 days’ notice before new tools; existing tools by September 1, 2026 (Sec. 2).
    • Ongoing post-use notices and data access/appeal processes (Secs. 5-6).
    • Retention and destruction windows (Sec. 3).
  • The bill creates a comprehensive regulatory framework with explicit notice, consent, data minimization, access, remedy, and enforcement mechanisms.

This summary captures the bill’s substantive provisions, whose effects, and the process-driven requirements designed to govern electronic monitoring in Minnesota workplaces.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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