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 Bill Text - SB-238 Workplace surveillance tools.

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 |Add To My Favorites |Track Bill | Version: 06/11/26 - Amended Assembly
 05/01/25 - Amended Senate
 03/26/25 - Amended Senate
 01/29/25 - Introduced

 SB-238 Workplace surveillance tools.(2025-2026)

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 Date Published: 06/11/2026 09:00 PM

SB238:v96#DOCUMENTBill Start

 Amended
 IN 
 Assembly
 June 11, 2026

 Amended
 IN 
 Senate
 May 01, 2025

 Amended
 IN 
 Senate
 March 26, 2025

 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

 Senate Bill

No. 238

Introduced by Senator Smallwood-Cuevas

January 29, 2025

 An act to add Part 5.7 (commencing with Section 1550) 1560) to Division 2 of of, and to repeal Section 1563 of, the Labor Code, relating to employment.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 238, as amended, Smallwood-Cuevas.
 Workplace surveillance tools.

Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to administer and enforce various laws relating to employment and working conditions.

This bill would require an employer a business, as defined, to annually provide a notice to the department of all the workplace surveillance tools the employer is using in the workplace. The bill would require the notice to include, among other information, the personal information that will be collected from workers and consumers and whether they will have the option of opting out of the collection of personal information. The bill would require the department to make the notice publicly available on the department’s internet website within 30 days of receiving the notice. The bill would define “employer” to include, among other entities, public employers, as
 specified. a list of the workplace surveillance tools being used that surveil employees and the categories of information being collected on employees by the workplace surveillance. The bill would also require a business to send the notice to employees and any union that represents employees of the business. The bill would make a business that violates these provisions subject to a civil penalty of $500 per violation.

This bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2029, compiling the above-described notices provided by businesses. The bill would require that the report include, among other requirements, a breakdown of notices by industry type.

Digest Key

 Vote:
 MAJORITY 
 Appropriation:
 NO 
 Fiscal Committee:
 YES 
 Local Program:
 NO 

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.Part 5.7 (commencing with Section 1550) is added to Division 2 of the Labor Code, to read:SECTION 1.

 Part 5.7 (commencing with Section 1560) is added to Division 2 of the Labor Code, to read:

PART 5.7. Workplace Surveillance Tools

1550.(a)

1560.

 (a) “Business” means a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, association, or other legal entity that is organized or operated for the profit or financial benefit of its shareholders or other owners that employs more than 100 people, and does business in this state.

(b) “Department” means the Department of Industrial Relations.

(b)(1)“Employer” means a person who directly or indirectly, or through an agent or any other person, employs or exercises control over the wages, benefits, other compensation, hours, working conditions, access to work or job opportunities, or other terms or conditions of employment, of any worker. This shall include all branches of state government, or the several counties, cities and counties, and municipalities thereof, or any other political subdivision of the state, or a school district, or any special district, or any authority, commission, or board or any other agency or instrumentality thereof.

(2)“Employer” includes an employer’s labor contractor.

(c)“Personal information” means any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, to a worker or a consumer, regardless of how the information is collected, inferred, or obtained.

(d)“Significant updates or changes” means changes that materially alter the function or scope of the surveillance tool, including new forms of data collection or analysis capabilities or new third-party access. Routine maintenance or changes that do not affect the tool’s f