Alabama Jobs Act; Secretary of Commerce prohibited from awarding economic tax incentives to companies that do not practice certain employment protections for workers

HB 352, the Alabama Jobs Act, requires companies receiving economic tax incentives from Alabama's Secretary of Commerce to certify they follow specific workplace protections. Directly affecting businesses seeking these incentives (typically for job-creating projects), the bill mandates that recipients: ban mandatory overtime, eliminate shift rotation, avoid requiring weekend work, provide 40 hours of paid emergency leave annually, guarantee a standard 40-hour work week (except for health/safety emergencies), prohibit off-the-clock work, and not count bathroom/breakroom travel time toward required breaks. These requirements would take effect for all new incentives starting October 1, 2026. The bill does not change existing employment laws but ties tax incentives to these specific worker protections.