Employment: technological displacement: notice.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on enforcement mechanisms beyond civil penalties.

California Worker Technological Displacement Act

This law requires employers with more than 25 affected workers or 25% of their workforce to give at least a 90-day written notice before using technology that might replace them, and it sets rules for how the state handles these situations.

What This Bill Does

• Requires employers with more than 25 affected workers or 25% of their workforce to provide at least a 90-day advanced written notice before technological displacement.
• Requires employers to notify affected workers, the Employment Development Department (EDD), and local workforce investment boards when technology is used to stop hiring directly due to artificial intelligence or other automating technology.
• Gives workers in large companies (more than 100 employees) a chance to apply for other jobs within the company if their job is replaced by technology.
• Prohibits employers from firing workers affected by technological displacement without good reason during the 90-day notice period.
• Makes employers pay back wages and benefits, up to 60 days or half of employment time (whichever is shorter), if they do not give proper notice.

Who It Names or Affects

• Employers who use technology that might replace workers.
• Workers whose jobs could be replaced by technology.
• The Employment Development Department and local workforce investment boards.

Terms To Know

Technological Displacement

When a company uses new technology to replace human workers, leading to job loss or changes in work roles.

Right of First Bid

The opportunity for affected workers to apply for other positions within the same employer before those jobs are filled by others.

Limits and Unknowns

• It is unclear how this law will be enforced and what specific penalties employers might face.
• The bill does not specify an effective date, so it's unknown when these rules would start applying.
• Details about the Technological Displacement Act Fund are limited; it’s not clear how funds will be used or managed.

Official Summary Text

SB 951, as amended, Reyes.
Employment: technological displacement: notice.
Existing law establishes the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, which is composed of various departments responsible for protecting and promoting the rights and interests of workers in California, including the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, led by the Labor Commissioner (commissioner), within the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law establishes the Employment Development Department (EDD), which is administered by the Director of Employment Development. Under existing law, the Director of Employment Development is vested with specified duties, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction related to job creation activity functions, among other things.
This bill would establish the California Worker Technological Displacement Act, which would require an employer, as defined, to provide at least a 90-day advanced
written notice, as described, before any technological displacement affecting 25 or more workers or 25 percent of the workforce, whichever is less. The bill would require an employer to provide that notice to affected workers, the EDD, and specified state and local entities. The bill would also require an employer to provide a written technology hiring disruption notice to the EDD and
specified local entities
the local workforce investment board
when it executes a technological cessation in hiring directly and primarily due to the adoption of artificial intelligence or other automating technology. The bill would impose various reporting requirements on the EDD.
For employers with more than 100 workers, this bill would entitle workers affected by technological displacement to a
right of first bid on other positions with the employer. The bill would prohibit an employer, during the 90-day period from when notice is provided to the worker, from discharging a worker affected by a technological displacement without reasonable and substantiated cause.
This bill would make an employer that fails to give notice before ordering a technological displacement liable for back pay and benefits to each worker for a maximum of 60 days or one-half the number of days the worker was employed, whichever period is shorter. The bill would also impose a $500 civil penalty for each day of the employer’s violation, except as provided.
This bill would set forth procedures for reporting violations to the commissioner and filing a civil action in court. The bill would provide enforcement authority and related powers to the commissioner. The bill would establish the Technological Displacement Act Fund, require all civil
penalties recovered by the commissioner to be deposited in the fund, and make all moneys in the fund available to the commissioner upon appropriation. The bill would make its provisions severable.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF