Last year, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill 294, which established the Workplace Know Your Rights Act. The Act requires California employers, on or before February 1, 2026, and thereafter upon a new hire and annually thereafter, to provide a stand-alone written notice to each current employee of certain rights and protections:
- The right to workers’ compensation benefits, including disability pay and medical care for work-related injuries or illness, as well as the contact information for the Division of Workers’ Compensation.
- The right to notice of an inspection of I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms or other employment records by immigration agencies.
- Protection against unfair immigration-related practices against a person exercising protected rights.
- The right to organize a union or engage in concerted activity in the workplace.
- Constitutional rights when interacting with law enforcement at the workplace, including an employee’s right under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution to due process and against self-incrimination.
The bill required the California Labor Commissioner to develop a template notice that employers may use to comply with the notice requirements described above. As a result, California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) published a Know Your Rights Notice that complies with the Act’s notice requirements. It can be found on the DIR website and is currently available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu.
The notice must be sent by the employer’s regular communication method with employees, which may be (but is not limited to) personal service, email, text message, or other methodology typically used to communicate employment-related information with employees, as long as the notice can reasonably be anticipated to be received by the employee within one business day of sending.
In addition, by March 30, 2026, and thereafter upon a new hire, employers must allow their California employees to name an emergency contact who the employer will notify if the employer learns that the employee is arrested or detained at work.
An employer who violates the bill may be subject to a penalty of up to $500 per employee for each violation, except that the penalty for a violation of the provisions relating to emergency contacts would be an amount up to $500 per employee for each day the violation occurs, up to a maximum of $10,000 per employee.
