New California employer notice requirements come into effect on February 1, 2026. Employers must provide a standalone written notice to employees by February 1 and on at least an annual basis thereafter describing workers’ core rights, including: the right to notice of an I-9 inspection by immigration agencies; protection against unfair immigration-related practices; constitutional rights when interacting with law enforcement in the workplace, including the right to remain silent and have an attorney; labor organizing rights; workers’ compensation; a description of new laws affecting workplace rights as determined by the Labor Commissioner; and a list of the enforcement agencies that may enforce the underlying rights in the notice.
This notice must also be given upon hire and provided to an employee’s union bargaining representative, if any.
Employers must allow employees to designate an emergency contact in case the employee is arrested or detained. Employees must be given the opportunity to provide their emergency contact information by March 30, 2026. If an employee already has an emergency contact designated, the employer must notify that person if the employee is detained or arrested.
This notice must be given to employees in the language that the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information and which the employee understands (when the appropriate template notice is available on the California Labor Commissioner’s website). Currently, the Labor Commissioner has created the template notice in English and in Spanish, but plans to translate it into other languages, including Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Punjabi, Tagalog, Urdu, and Vietnamese. The template notice can be found here in English and here in Spanish.
The notice can be sent via personal service, email, or text message, so long as it can reasonably be anticipated to be received by the employee within one business day of sending it. Employers must keep records of sending the notice for three years.
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