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California Workplace Know Your Rights Notice Requirement Is in Effect
California’s Workplace – Know Your Rights Act (SB 294), requires employers to provide employees with annual written notice of key workplace rights. The law seeks to “equip California workers with knowledge of their rights that they can also use to protect their families, neighbors, and communities.”
Effective February 1, 2026, all California employers must provide a standalone, written notice to all current employees, in a manner the employer normally uses to communicate job or employment information, such as personal service, email, or text message, and to all new hires at the time of hire. This notice must be provided annually and must include information about, among other things, workers’ compensation rights, including disability pay and medical care, immigration-related protections, the right to unionize or engage in protected concerted activity, and certain constitutional rights.
The law also requires annual notice of existing workplace protections related to immigration status, including:
- The right to advance notice of inspection by immigration authorities. An employer receiving notice of an inspection of I-9 forms or other records by immigration authorities must post a notice informing workers and their union representatives, if applicable. The I-9 inspection notice posting requirement was established by earlier California law.
- Protection from retaliatory immigration-related practices. California employers are prohibited from threatening or taking immigration-related actions against employees who exercise their rights. Prohibited actions include refusing to accept identification documents that appear genuine during the I-9 process; using E-Verify to reverify employment when not required to do so; and reporting or threatening to report an employee or a family member to the police or a state or federal agency.
The notice must also include information regarding California workers’ rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments during workplace interactions with law enforcement.
Pursuant to the new law, the California Labor Commissioner has developed a template notice to assist employers in complying with this new requirement. The template is currently available in English and Spanish (links below), with additional languages, including Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi to follow.
Failure to comply with the notice requirements above can result in fines of up to $500 per employee.
In addition to the notice obligations above, by March 30, 2026, employers must allow employees to designate an emergency contact in the event they are arrested or detained on their worksite and in certain other circumstances. Further, employers must notify that contact if the employee is arrested or detained. Failing to notify a designated emergency contact can result in fines of up to $500 per employee per day, up to a maximum of $10,000 per employee.
Apart from an employee’s right to designate a specific emergency contact and to have them notified, SB 294 does not create new substantive labor or immigration rights. However, employers are advised to act promptly to stay compliant and to protect themselves from avoidable penalties.
