SB 294 — The Workplace Know Your Rights Act

The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), within the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), enforces state labor laws.

SB 294 creates the Workplace Know Your Rights Act under the Labor Code, which requires employers to provide a stand-alone written notice to each current employee about specified workers’ rights. Employers must provide such notice on or before February 1, 2026, and annually thereafter.

Employers must provide notice to all current employees, new hires, and any authorized representatives describing the following rights:

1. Rights to workers’ compensation benefits and contact information for the Division of Workers’ Compensation.
2. The right to notice of immigration agency inspections.
3. Protection from unfair immigration-related practices.
4. The right to organize or join a union and engage in concerted activities.
5. Constitutional rights when interacting with law enforcement at the workplace, including protections against unreasonable searches and self-incrimination.

Employers may provide the notice by personal service, regular mail, email, text, or another method that can be reasonably anticipated to be received within one business day.

SB 294 requires employers to issue the notice in the language normally used to communicate with employees, and to maintain compliance records for three years. The Labor Commissioner must create and post a template notice by January 1, 2026, that will include other legal developments that the Labor Commissioner deems relevant, update the template annually, and make it available in multiple languages.

SB 294 also requires that, by March 30, 2026, employers provide employees the opportunity to name an emergency contact and to indicate whether they would like the employer to notify the contact if the employee is arrested or detained on their worksite, or during work hours or during the performance of the employee’s job duties, but not on the worksite, if the employer has actual knowledge of the arrest or detention of the employee. SB 294 requires that employers provide employees the opportunity to update their emergency contact at any time.

SB 294 prohibits retaliation or discrimination against employees who exercise or attempt to exercise their rights under the Workplace Know Your Rights Act. The Labor Commissioner and public prosecutors may enforce the law, and employers who violate it may face penalties of up to $500 per employee per violation per day, up to $10,000 per employee for violations of the emergency contact provisions of the Workplace Know Your Rights Act. The law permits waiver through a collective bargaining agreement only if clearly stated, and allows local ordinances to provide greater employee protections.

(AB 294 adds Part 5.6 (commencing with Section 1550) to Division 2 of the Labor Code.)