AB 1883: Workplace surveillance tools.

Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law authorizes the division, which is headed by the Labor Commissioner, to enforce the Labor Code and all labor laws of the state, the enforcement of which is not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission.

This bill would generally regulate the use of workplace surveillance tools and an employers use of worker data. The bill would prohibit an employer from using certain a workplace surveillance tools, including a workplace surveillance tool that incorporates facial, gait, or emotion recognition technology, except as specified. tool on workers for various purposes, including preventing compliance with laws or regulations, inferring information about workers engaging in a protected activity, making inferences about an individuals emotional state or based on their gait, or collecting neural data. The bill would prohibit an employer from using facial recognition technology, unless it is used strictly to open a locked device or grant access to locked or secure areas. The bill would also prohibit an employer from using a workplace surveillance tool to infer specified categories of information about a worker, including, among others, their veteran status, ancestral history, religious beliefs, or disability status. The

This bill would require the Labor Commissioner to enforce the bills provisions, would authorize an employee to bring a civil action for specified remedies for a violation of the bills provisions, and would authorize a public prosecutor to enforce the provisions. The bill would subject an employer who violates the bills provisions to a civil penalty of up to $500 for each violation. The bill would define various terms for purposes of its provisions.

The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.