A scheduling app flags a line cook for slow ticket times. A badge reader logs every trip a cashier takes down the hallway. A chatbot answers a customer's call after the front desk closes. Behind each of those moments is a person, and starting next year California law has something to say about how a business treats them.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed five bills on September 28 and 30 that set rules for how businesses use artificial intelligence and other automated tools with their workers and customers. Three of them reach employers of every size: the definition of "employer" in each has no minimum headcount, so the owner of a five-person shop is covered along with a large company. Two apply only to larger businesses.
The five laws at a glance
| Law | Who it protects | Takes effect | Which businesses |
|---|---|---|---|
| SB 947 (McNerney) | Workers disciplined or fired with help from software | July 1, 2027 | Every employer |
| AB 1331 (Elhawary) | Workers' privacy in workplace bathrooms | January 1, 2027 | Every employer |
| AB 1883 (Bryan) | Workers watched by AI tools that read emotions or collect neural data | January 1, 2027 | Every employer |
| SB 951 (Reyes) | Workers laid off when automation replaces their jobs | January 1, 2027 | Sites with 75 or more employees |
| AB 1609 (Zbur) | Customers trying to reach a person instead of a chatbot | January 1, 2027 | Businesses with more than $500 million in national revenue |
AB 1331 and AB 1883 also reach a business that gets its workers through a staffing agency or labor contractor.
SB 947: a person, not software, makes the call
SB 947, by Sen. Jerry McNerney, is about the moment a worker is disciplined or let go. It covers any "automated decision system": software built on machine learning, statistical modeling, data analytics or AI that produces a score, a ranking, a classification or a recommendation, and that helps make or replaces a person's judgment about people. Spam filters, firewalls, antivirus programs, login and access tools, calculators and plain databases are not included.
From July 1, 2027:
- Some uses are off limits. An employer may not use such a system to get around labor, safety, employment or civil rights law; to infer a worker's protected status (such as race, national origin, religion or disability); or to predict and take adverse action against a worker for exercising their legal rights.
- No worker disciplined or fired by software alone. If an employer relies mainly on a system's output for a disciplinary or termination decision, a person must corroborate the decision, using the data behind the output or other supporting information such as supervisor evaluations, personnel files, the employee's work product, peer reviews or witness interviews (which may include online customer reviews). If the output cannot be corroborated, or the reviewer finds it inaccurate, incomplete or misleading, it may not be used.
- A written notice, at the time of the decision. When the employer mainly relied on such a system, the worker gets a separate, plain-language notice at the moment they are told about the decision. It must say that a system was used, that a person reviewed and confirmed the result, whom to contact, and that retaliation is prohibited. It must be in the language the business uses for its routine communications with employees. If your team's day-to-day messages go out in Spanish, so does this notice.
- A look at their own data. The worker may ask for a meaningful, objective description of their own data that the system used, and the employer must provide it, with other people's personal information anonymized.
The Labor Commissioner and public prosecutors enforce the law, with a $500 civil penalty per violation and other relief available in court. Once it is shown that a system was used in the decision, the employer has to show it followed the rules. Two narrow exceptions apply: a union contract that expressly waives the law, sets wages and working conditions, and provides its own protection from algorithmic management; and some federal aerospace and defense work.
"No worker should ever be fired or disciplined by a robo boss," McNerney said the day the bill was signed. A coalition of employer associations opposed it, warning, as quoted in the Senate floor analysis, that the bill "would impose significant compliance burdens and any misstep would lead to costly litigation for even the smallest of employers." Last year Newsom vetoed a broader McNerney bill, SB 7 (October 13, 2025), which would also have required advance notice that such systems are in use. SB 947 focuses on discipline and firing.
AB 1331 and AB 1883: limits on monitoring tools
Under AB 1331, by Assembly Member Sade Elhawary, no worker may be watched by a monitoring tool in a workplace bathroom unless a court orders it. Workers may leave tracking devices they carry outside the bathroom, unless the law requires them to stay reachable during meal or rest breaks, and an employer may use those tools only to check the one-time entry and exit. There are two exceptions. One is a worker who chooses to bring a device in. The other is a badge or personal alarm the employer requires for identification, safety or bathroom access, as long as it records no audio or video and has no built-in AI. Elhawary called the bill "an important step in securing a worker's right to privacy while new invasive surveillance technologies are being used by employers," in the author's statement quoted in the Assembly floor analysis.
Under AB 1883, by Assembly Member Isaac Bryan, no worker may be monitored by AI-powered tools that recognize or make inferences about their emotional state, or that collect neural data (measurements of the nervous system). Tools used for safety, and tools that do neither of those things, remain allowed. "Workplace surveillance has evolved into highly invasive systems that track worker movements and collect massive amounts of data," Bryan said in the author's statement quoted in the Assembly floor analysis. "Current laws fail to protect workers from these practices."
Each law carries a penalty of up to $500 per violation, enforced by the Labor Commissioner and public prosecutors. Under AB 1883 a worker can also recover the penalty. Neither law overrides a city or county rule that protects workers more, and both exempt some federal aerospace and defense work.
SB 951: say so when automation causes a layoff
California's WARN Act already gives workers 60 days' notice before a mass layoff (50 or more employees within 30 days), a relocation or a closing at a site that has had 75 or more employees in the past year. SB 951, by Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes, adds to it. From January 1, 2027, when the layoff is caused in whole or in substantial part by AI or other automation replacing or automating jobs, the notice must also list the number, job types and locations affected, the job duties being automated, and the kind of technology involved. It must open with the line "This notice is for a technology displacement." The Employment Development Department will publish a summary of these notices every quarter and report to the Legislature on AI and hiring by January 1, 2028.
"Employers are already citing AI as a reason for layoffs and hiring freezes, yet policymakers lack reliable data to understand the full impact," Reyes said in the author's statement quoted in the Senate floor analysis. "Without this information, government is forced to respond only after workers have already lost their livelihoods." A coalition of employer organizations opposed the bill, warning, as quoted in the same analysis, of higher "settlement pressure and litigation costs for employers, including small businesses, that lack the resources to absorb prolonged legal disputes."
AB 1609: chatbots at very large companies
AB 1609, by Assembly Member Rick Chavez Zbur, applies only to businesses with more than $500 million in national revenue. Their customer-service chatbots may not claim to be human and must say they are not when a customer could reasonably be misled. Customers must have a way to ask for a person during business hours, with a good-faith effort to connect them within 15 minutes or to schedule a call within one business day. Public prosecutors enforce it, with penalties of up to $5,000 for a first violation and $10,000 for each one after. "When Californians reach out for customer support, they deserve timely, transparent access to a real human who can understand their situation and help solve the problem," Zbur said in the author's statement quoted in the Assembly floor analysis. Most chamber members are not covered, though many will notice the change as customers of larger companies.
What your employees can ask for
Workers get rights of their own under these laws, and an owner who knows them can decide now who will answer.
- A notice and a person to talk to. From July 1, 2027, a worker disciplined or fired in a decision that relied mainly on software gets a written notice when they are told about it. The notice names a person they can contact about the decision and about their data.
- A description of their own data. The worker can ask for a meaningful, objective description of their own data the system used, and the employer must provide it.
- No retaliation. An employer may not fire or threaten to fire, demote, suspend or otherwise retaliate against a worker for using these rights, filing a complaint with the Labor Commissioner, or cooperating in an investigation.
- Privacy in the bathroom. From January 1, 2027, workers may leave tracking devices they carry outside the bathroom, unless the law requires them to stay reachable during meal or rest breaks.
- A complaint to the state. Workers can take a concern to the Labor Commissioner, who enforces SB 947, AB 1331 and AB 1883.
What to do now
- List your tools. Write down every app that schedules, rates, ranks, monitors or tracks your staff, including timekeeping, delivery, scheduling and HR software.
- Ask your vendors. Find out whether any tool scores workers in ways that feed discipline, infers emotions, or collects biometric or neural data.
- Assign a reviewer. Before any discipline or firing that leans on a software score, have a manager check it against records and note what they checked.
- Prepare the notice and name a contact. Draft the SB 947 notice in the language your team uses every day, and decide who will answer employees' questions about a decision and their data, ready for July 1, 2027.
- Check your badge and device policies against the bathroom rules in AB 1331 before January 1, 2027.
- If you have 75 or more employees, update your WARN notice template for the technology-displacement line.
- Check local rules. Some Bay Area cities may add their own requirements.
This is a summary of the new laws, not legal advice. Talk with your employment counsel about how they apply to your business.
