By McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM
Posted October 15, 2026.
The first California law on workplace software that you will feel takes effect on January 1, not July 1. It limits what your employer’s tools are allowed to see and guess about you, and a second one changes what a layoff notice has to say.
Two surveillance laws signed September 30, 2026, AB 1883 and AB 1331, start on January 1, 2027. AB 1883 bars AI-powered tools from recognizing or predicting an employee’s emotional state and from collecting neural data, with an exception for tools that protect safety. That can reach the mood, tone and engagement scores built into call, video and productivity software. AB 1331 bars using surveillance tools in a workplace bathroom, and that includes badge readers, GPS and time trackers, not only cameras. Employees may leave tracked devices outside before going in, unless they must stay reachable during a meal or rest period. The Labor Commissioner and public prosecutors enforce both.
Neither law bans monitoring. Outside bathrooms, and outside emotion and neural data, ordinary tools such as time tracking, work-area cameras and vehicle GPS stay legal. Locker rooms and changing rooms were already protected by Labor Code section 435. What employers lose is the ability to guess how you feel or to follow you into the one room where privacy is the point.
SB 951 amends California’s WARN Act, also effective January 1. When AI or automation causes a covered mass layoff, relocation or termination in whole or substantial part, the notice has to name the positions, the job functions being automated and the technology, and call it a technology displacement. If you are on either side of a layoff, read how California WARN works first.
If you are an employee, find out which tools your employer runs on you before January 1, and ask whether any of them score mood, tone or engagement. If you are an employer, open the settings of your meeting, call-recording, timekeeping and wellness tools this month and look for sentiment, emotion or engagement features. Turn off any that infer feelings, check what your badge and GPS tools log near restrooms, and tell your legal and HR teams before your next layoff plan reaches a notice. Every 2027 California law, in the order I would handle them.
The July 1 rule, which stops software from disciplining or firing anyone on its own, has its own full write-up: California’s No Robo Bosses Act, in plain English.
Six free live sessions on Zoom, with a question-and-answer period in each. Register on Eventbrite and the replay is yours for 48 hours.
Thinking about adding an AI notetaker to your meetings first? Which meetings it should never join.
Open the admin settings of every meeting, call-recording and timekeeping tool you use and search for sentiment, emotion, mood or engagement. Switch off what you find and write down the date you did it. Fifteen minutes.
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.
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This post is my view, written as general information. It is not legal advice.
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