Workplace surveillance tools.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific information about enforcement mechanisms or penalties for public employers, leading to uncertainty in those areas.

Rules for Workplace Surveillance

This law sets rules about how employers can use tools to watch workers and collect data, including requirements for notice and limits on certain types of surveillance.

What This Bill Does

• Requires employers to give workers a written notice at least 30 days before using new workplace surveillance tools.
• Prohibits employers from sharing worker data with other companies unless the company is hired to analyze or interpret it, and even then only if there are certain terms in their contract.
• Bans employers from using specific types of surveillance technology that can recognize faces, walking styles, or emotions.
• Stops employers from using workplace tools to guess personal information about workers like immigration status or religious beliefs.
• Allows the Labor Commissioner to enforce these rules and lets workers sue for damages if their rights are violated.

Who It Names or Affects

• Employers who use surveillance tools in the workplace
• Workers whose data might be collected by employers

Terms To Know

Workplace Surveillance Tool

A device or system used to watch and collect information about workers at their jobs.

Worker Data

Information collected by employers about their employees, such as work habits or personal details.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if an employer violates the rules.
• It is unclear how this law will be enforced in practice.

Official Summary Text

AB 1221, as amended, Bryan.
Workplace surveillance tools.
Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law authorizes the division, which is headed by the Labor Commissioner, to enforce the Labor Code and all labor laws of the state, the enforcement of which is not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission.
This bill would generally regulate the use of workplace surveillance tools and an employer’s use of worker data. The bill would, among other things, require an employer, at least 30 days before introducing a workplace surveillance tool, to provide a worker who will be affected a written notice that includes, among other things, a description of the worker data to be collected, the intended purpose of the workplace surveillance tool, and how this form of worker surveillance is necessary to meet that
purpose. The bill would define “employer” to include public employers, as specified. The bill would prohibit an employer from transferring, selling, disclosing, or licensing worker data to a vendor, unless the vendor is under contract to analyze or interpret the worker data and the contract includes certain terms. The bill would prohibit an employer from using certain workplace surveillance tools, including a workplace surveillance tool that incorporates facial, gait, or emotion recognition
technology.
technology, except as specified. The bill would also prohibit an employer from using a workplace surveillance tool to infer specified categories of information about a worker, including, among others, their immigration status, veteran status, ancestral history, religious or political beliefs, disability status, criminal record, or credit history.
The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to enforce the bill’s provisions, would authorize an employee to bring a civil action for specified remedies for a violation of the bill’s provisions, and would authorize a public prosecutor to enforce the provisions. The bill would subject an employer who violates the bill’s provisions to a civil penalty of $500 for each violation. The bill would define various terms for purposes of its provisions.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF