Executive Summary
Our Labor & Employment Group examines key obligations for employers to comply with California’s Workplace Know Your Rights Act.
- By February 1, employers must provide employees with a notice of rights in the language typically used for workplace communications
- By March 30, employees must allow employees to designate an emergency contact in case they are arrested or detained on the job
- Employers face civil penalties if they do not promptly notify the emergency contact when an employee is arrested or detained
On January 1, 2026, California’s Workplace Know Your Rights Act (SB 294) went into effect. The act establishes two primary requirements employers need to be aware of.
First, the act requires employers to provide all employees with annual written notice of certain workers’ rights, including workers’ compensation rights, immigration-related protections, individual rights when interacting with law enforcement, and union organizing rights. Employers must distribute the notice to all current employees by February 1, 2026, and annually thereafter. The notice must also be given to new hires and all collective bargaining representatives annually.
The California labor commissioner has posted a template notice that complies with the act’s requirements in both English and Spanish and will update the notice each year. Employers may elect to use the template or create one of their own so long as the notice complies with the law’s requirements. Employers must provide the notice in the language that the employer regularly uses to communicate with employees if the template notice is available in that language on the labor commissioner’s website. The commissioner intends to provide the template notice in Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Punjabi, Tagalog, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
Second, the act requires that by March 30, 2026, employers provide employees with the opportunity to designate an emergency contact who should be notified if (1) an employee is arrested or detained at the employer’s worksite; or (2) the employer has notice or knowledge of an employee’s arrest or detention during work hours or during the performance of an employee’s job duties not on the employer’s worksite. Employers must promptly notify the designated emergency contact if the employee is arrested or detained. Employers must timely comply with these new requirements to avoid civil penalties up to $500 per employee per day, with a maximum $10,000 per employee.
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