Existing law requires the Department of Technology to maintain an inventory of high-risk automated decision systems (ADS) used or proposed for use by state agencies. An ADS generally includes computational processes derived from machine learning, statistical modeling, data analytics, or artificial intelligence that generate outputs used to assist or replace human decision-making.
SB 947, referred to during the legislative process as the “No Robo Bosses Act,” establishes new requirements governing employers’ use of these systems in the workplace.
Effective July 1, 2027, SB 947 prohibits employers from relying solely on an ADS to discipline or terminate an employee. If an employer primarily relies upon an ADS output to make a disciplinary or termination decision, SB 947 requires the employer to direct a human to review and corroborate the decision using relevant corroborating or supporting information, which may include:
If the output cannot be corroborated, or the reviewer determines it is inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading, the employer may not use it to make the decision.
SB 947 also requires a separate written notice to an employee when an employer primarily relies on an ADS in making a disciplinary or termination decision. The notice must explain that the employer primarily relied upon an ADS, that a human reviewed and corroborated the output, how the employee can contact a human for more information, and the employee’s right to obtain a description of their own data used by the ADS. The employer must provide a “meaningful, objective description” of such data upon the employee’s request. The employer may redact any customer, employee, or individual’s personal information from the data produced.
SB 947 also prohibits employers from using an ADS to violate employment, labor, occupational safety, or civil rights laws; infer an employee’s protected classification under the Fair Employment and Housing Act; or predict and take adverse action against an employee for exercising legal rights.
SB 947 permits its requirements to be expressly waived through a collective bargaining agreement, but only if the agreement clearly and unambiguously waives the statute, addresses wages or earnings and other working conditions, and provides protection from algorithmic management.
Violations may be enforced by the Labor Commissioner or public prosecutors and are subject to a civil penalty of $500 per violation.
SB 947 adds Part 5.5.5, commencing with section 1520, to Division 2 of the Labor Code.
