Worker Safety Act of 2026.

Removed draft headers, committee notes, and version identifiers (e.g., 'Edition 4', 'Committee Substitute') that were present in the working draft.

Added the official ratification date, signatures of the Senate President, House Speaker Pro Tempore, and the Governor to finalize the law.

Adjusted the document title from 'Committee Substitute' to 'Ratified Bill' to reflect its final legal status.

All provisions increasing criminal punishment for assaulting utility, communications, or transportation workers were deleted.

New requirements were added specifying exactly what information must be included in a written discrimination complaint, such as contact details and a description of the retaliatory action.

New procedures were established for the Commissioner of Labor to investigate complaints, including a rule that any extraneous materials submitted with a complaint must be destroyed and cannot be used as evidence.

Specific deadlines were set for the investigation process, including a 20-day window for the Commissioner to forward the complaint to the respondent and a 90-day limit for completing the investigation.

A new section was added to clarify how time is calculated for legal deadlines under the act.

Added a new felony charge for assaulting public transit operators, including both public employees and private contractors.

Updated the short title and operative text to include 'transportation worker' alongside utility and communications workers.

Updated document headers to reflect the Third Edition status and corrected line numbering and formatting.

The definition of 'utility or communications worker' was updated to explicitly include providers of water, wastewater, and liquid petroleum services.

Added a new felony provision (G.S. 14-32.6) specifically criminalizing assaults on utility or communications workers as a Class I felony, whereas the previous draft only proposed adding these workers to an existing misdemeanor list.

Defined 'utility or communications worker' to explicitly include employees, agents, and contractors providing electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, and internet access services.

Established that the worker must be 'readily identifiable' (e.g., wearing a uniform or company logo) and discharging duties for the felony charge to apply.

Modified the existing assault statute (G.S. 14-33) to include utility workers in the list of protected individuals, though the final text shows the primary new felony charge is the main policy shift.

Set the effective date of the new law to December 1, 2025, and clarified that it applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Added public transit operators and TNC drivers to the list of protected workers, elevating assaults against them to Class I felonies.

Modified the statutory language to explicitly include these new categories of workers in the felony assault provisions.

Removed the original short title and sponsor information, replacing them with amendment-specific headers.