California Workplace Know Your Rights Act – Have You Distributed The Required Notice Yet?

Employers that do business in California or that have remote workers based in California need to review and update their employee notice requirements and onboarding documentation to ensure they comply with the new Workplace Know Your Rights Act ("Act"). We summarize the new requirements below.

Workplace Know Your Rights Notice

• What is in the Notice? California employers must provide employees with a "stand-alone written notice" outlining their rights regarding: (i) workers compensation benefits; (ii) notice of inspection by immigration agencies and protections against unfair immigration-related practices; (iii) union organization and protected concerted activity; and (iv) constitutional rights when interacting with law enforcement in the workplace.
  
• When Must the Notice be Provided? (i) to current employees on or before February 1, 2026; (ii) to new employees upon hire; (iii) to all employees annually; and (iv) if applicable, to an employee's exclusive collective bargaining agent annually by electronic or regular mail.
  
• Delivery Method: The notice can be provided by email, text message, or personal service, provided it can be reliably received within one business day of sending.
  
• Template Notice/Language: The Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) Labor Commissioner has published a template notice that satisfies these requirements in English, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Punjabi, Tagalog, Urdu, and Vietnamese. The notices are available on the DIR website. The notice must be provided to all employees in the language the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information to employees, so long as the template notice is available in that language from the DIR. If the notice is not available in the employee's language, it may be provided in English. The law also requires the notice to list any "new legal developments" that the labor commissioner deems "material and necessary." DIR will update the notice annually.
  
• Record Retention: Employers must keep a record of compliance for up to three years, including the date each written notice was provided or sent. In addition to other penalties, employers may be assessed up to $500 per employee for each violation.
  
• Educational Videos: The Act also requires the Labor Commissioner to develop a video for both employers and employees advising them of their rights and/or requirements on the topics covered by the Employee Rights Notice. An employer may, but is not required to, show or provide a link to the employee of the video that will be developed by the Labor Commissioner's office.

Emergency Contact Designation

No later than March 30, 2026, California employers must allow current employees as well as new hires to designate an emergency contact in case the employee is subject to certain arrests or detentions. If an employee provides their consent, an employer is required to notify the employee's emergency contact regarding an arrest or detention that: (i) occurs at the worksite; or (ii) occurs during work hours, or during the performance of the employee's job duties, but not at the worksite, if the employer has actual knowledge of the arrest or detention of the employee. An employer that fails to comply with this requirement may be subject to a civil penalty of up to $500 per employee for each day the violation occurs, up to a maximum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per employee.

Employer Compliance Checklist

• Download the DIR template notices. Employers can distribute their own notice provided it complies with all requirements of the law, but use of the template notice avoids any compliance concern.
  
• Distribute the Workplace Know Your Rights Notice to all current employees by February 1, 2026;
  
• Update new hire onboarding packets to provide the Workplace Know Your Rights Notice;
  
• Implement record retention procedures to ensure employers can provide proof of compliance, including the date each notice is provided to employees. This may include having an employee sign an acknowledgement of receipt, retaining copies of email distribution of the notice, or maintenance of other HR business records or logs;
  
• Update emergency contact forms to request whether the employee wants the employer to contact a designated emergency contact in the event of the employee's arrest or detention. Provide the updated form to current employees and new hires no later than March 30, 2026.
  
• Monitor the DIR website for any annual updates to the template notices.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.