AB 1883: Workplace surveillance tools.

Session Year: 2025-2026
House: Assembly
Latest Version Date: 2026-07-02

Current Status:

In Progress

(2026-07-02: Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.)

Introduced

In Committee

First Chamber

In Committee

Second Chamber

Enacted

Version:

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 a workplace surveillance 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 to make inferences about a worker for firing, deactivation, or disciplinary purposes. The bill would, with certain exceptions, 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.

This bill would, with certain exceptions, prohibit an employer from using a workplace surveillance tool that uses artificial intelligence to, among other things, collect neural data or recognize an individuals emotional state. The bill would define an employer to include a governmental entity, including, among other entities, charter cities and the University of California.

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.

This bill would exempt from its provisions the use of a workplace artificial intelligence tool or a workplace surveillance tool to the extent that its use is required by, to ensure safety or is reasonably necessary to comply with, a federal statute, federal regulation, or binding federal contract relating to the development of aircraft for use in the national airspace or the development of products or services for national security, military, space, or defense purposes.

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.

Discussed in Hearing