California Raises Pay Data Report Penalties: What Employers Must File

Starting January 1, 2027, a repeat failure to file California’s pay data report can cost up to $1,000 per employee, up from a lower cap. A first failure stays at up to $100 per employee. Private employers with 100 or more employees file by the second Wednesday of May, which is May 12, 2027.

I am Mac Malbrough. I hold a J.D. and an MS-HRM, I am not an attorney, and this is general information, not legal advice. I read SB 1237, Chapter 1019 of the Statutes of 2026, and Government Code Section 12999 on the California Legislative Information site on November 6, 2026, and I read the California Civil Rights Department’s pay data reporting page the same day. SB 1237 was approved on September 30, 2026. Most employers of 10 to 150 people will not file this report, but the ones who sit near 100 should plan early.

What does SB 1237 change?

It amends Government Code Section 12999, the pay data reporting law, and the change that matters to employers is the penalty. Under the section, the Civil Rights Department can ask a court to order an employer to file and to impose a civil penalty. Before the bill, the cap for a repeat failure was lower. As amended, the court shall impose, on request of the department, a penalty “not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100) per employee” on an employer who fails to file, and “not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) per employee” for a subsequent failure.

The department can also recover the costs of seeking the order. Penalties go to the Civil Rights Enforcement and Litigation Fund. If an employer cannot file a complete report because a labor contractor did not give it the pay data, the court may assign part of the penalty to the labor contractor. The bill also requires the department to publish each year the total number of pay data reports submitted, in aggregate.

What does the penalty look like in dollars?

The cap is multiplied by employees, so the number grows fast. These are the maximums, not what a court must award:

• An employer with 120 employees that fails to file once faces up to $12,000 (120 times $100).
• The same employer failing to file a second time faces up to $120,000 (120 times $1,000).

Those figures are my arithmetic from the statute, and I have no data on how often courts impose the maximum. What I do know is that the cost of filing on time is mostly staff hours, and the cost of a missed filing scales with headcount.

Who must file a pay data report?

A private employer with 100 or more employees files a report covering the prior calendar year. A private employer with 100 or more employees hired through labor contractors in the prior year files a separate report for that group and discloses the ownership names of all the labor contractors it used. The Civil Rights Department’s page describes the same two groups: private employers of 100 or more payroll employees and private client employers of 100 or more labor contractor employees.

The statute defines “employee” as an individual on the employer’s payroll, including part-time people, for whom the employer must withhold federal social security taxes. That means a team of 90 full-time employees and 15 part-time employees counts as 105. Employers with multiple establishments file a report for each establishment.

When is the report due?

The report is due on or before the second Wednesday of May each year, covering the prior calendar year. For 2027, the second Wednesday of May is May 12, and the report covers 2026. The department’s page said reports for the 2025 reporting year were due May 13, 2026, which is the second Wednesday of that May. Section 12999 as amended becomes operative on January 1, 2027, so the higher penalty applies to the report due next spring.

What happens if you miss the deadline?

The statute says that if the department does not receive a required report, it may seek an order requiring the employer to comply and is entitled to recover the costs of seeking that order. The penalty then comes on the department’s request to a court. In practice, that means a late filing is a problem you fix quickly rather than a penalty you pay automatically. If you realize you missed the date, file as soon as you can and keep a record of when and why, and talk to an employment attorney if you receive any notice from the department.

What goes in the report?

The report includes the number of employees by race, ethnicity and sex in each of 23 job categories, from chief executives to transportation and material moving occupations. It includes how many employees by race, ethnicity and sex fall into each pay band used in the federal Occupational Employment Statistics survey, the median and mean hourly rate within each job category for each combination of race, ethnicity and sex, the total hours worked by employees in each pay band, and the employer’s NAICS code. The employer can add clarifying remarks, and it does not have to.

The counts come from a snapshot of one pay period of the employer’s choice between October 1 and December 31 of the reporting year. The earnings come from the W-2 for the whole year, whether or not the person worked all year. The statute requires that demographic information be collected and stored separately from personnel records. The department must treat individually identifiable information as confidential and exempt from public records requests, and it may publish aggregate reports.

What is a four-step filing checklist?

1. Confirm coverage by counting payroll employees, including part-time, and anyone hired through labor contractors, as of the reporting year. If the count is near 100, assume you are covered and start.
2. Pick the snapshot pay period between October 1 and December 31 and save the roster, job titles, hours and the demographic data you collect separately from personnel files.
3. Match each person to one of the 23 job categories, assign the pay band from their W-2 earnings, and calculate the median and mean hourly rate for each group. Prepare a separate report for each establishment and for labor contractor workers.
4. File through the Civil Rights Department’s pay data portal on or before May 12, 2027, and keep the confirmation with your working file.

If you are close to 100 employees and have never filed, a first report is a good moment to look at your pay structure. The same data that fills the form shows gaps that an equal pay claim would show. My pay equity audit is built for that review, and the guide to checking pay equity without a PEO shows how to start with a spreadsheet. The HR laws by headcount page lists what else begins at 100.

What should you do this week?

Put May 12, 2027 on your compliance calendar, and put a reminder for March 1 to start the data pull. Then count your payroll employees and labor contractor hires for 2026. If you are at or near 100, ask your payroll provider whether it can export the job category, hours and W-2 earnings you need. The compliance calendar shows where this deadline sits among the others.

Sources

• SB 1237 (Blakespear), Chapter 1019, Statutes of 2026, approved September 30, 2026, read November 6, 2026
• California Civil Rights Department, Pay Data Reporting, read November 6, 2026

McKinley holds a J.D. but is not a licensed attorney. Articles here are general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, talk with an employment attorney.