California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed a series of bills intended to protect workers from the impact of AI, automated technologies, and AI-assisted surveillance.
The legislation follows the Governor’s Executive Order issued in May 2026, which established a policy framework intended to help California anticipate and manage workforce disruption caused by AI.
Governor Newsom recently signed into law SB 1149, which amends the state’s bereavement leave law to allow for bereavement leave for designated individuals.
Under existing law, California employers with 5 or more employees must provide employees with 5 days of unpaid bereavement leave upon the death of a family member. The current law’s definition of a family member includes a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law.
Governor Newsom recently signed into law AB 1803, which will require employers to provide anti-hate speech training.
As a reminder, California employers with 5 or more employees are already required to provide sexual harassment prevention training to employees within 6 months of hire and every 2 years.
The city just expanded its Fair Chance Ordinance. Under the new amendment, employers are now prohibited from considering out-of-state criminal convictions or arrests tied to conduct that’s lawful in California, including abortion-related healthcare, gender-affirming care, drag performances, and miscarriage-related care.
On July 8, 2026, in a case of first impression, the Ninth Circuit (which includes California) interpreted the effective date of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFAA). As previously discussed in PERKS, the EFAA enables employees asserting sexual harassment or sexual assault claims to proceed in court to litigate certain claims despite the existence of a pre-dispute arbitration agreement with their employer.
On July 31 Governor Newsom announced that California’s statewide minimum wage will increase to $17.40 per hour, effective January 1, 2027.
This will impact both exempt and non-exempt employees in California, as the minimum salary threshold for exempt employees is tied to the minimum wage. Accordingly, as of January 1, 2027, the minimum annual salary
California Employers:
Governor Newsom signed an executive order on May 21, 2026 directing various California agencies to study AI’s impact on the state’s labor market, including potential disproportionate impacts on certain demographic groups. The order demonstrates the executive branch’s appetite for enacting new AI-related employment regulations.
Key directives include requiring the Labor and Workforce Development
In wage and hour news, on April 21, 2026, a former hourly employee filed a proposed California class action against a well-known consumer online review and local-business search platform alleging, among other claims, that the company failed to pay for “pre-shift” time spent waiting for work computers to boot up (and for additional login delays)
In more DEI news, a federal court in California rejected a former news anchor’s “reverse” discrimination claim against CBS and Paramount Broadcasting, in which he claimed that he was fired due to his race (white). The court found that the mere fact that the anchor’s replacement was Black and that CBS had in place certain
