The Governor recently signed new laws impacting California employers in 2026.  Below is a discussion of these new employment laws.

Increased California Minimum Wage and Exempt Employee Salary Requirement Increases

Beginning January 1, 2026, the California minimum wage will increase to $16.90 per hour. This will also increase the exempt employee salary requirement to $70,304.00. The City of Los Angeles minimum wage will remain at $17.87 per hour until its next scheduled increase on July 1, 2026.

The Workplace Know Your Rights Act

This new law, SB 294, establishes the “Workplace Know Your Rights Act” under which an employer will be required to provide a stand-alone written notice to each current employee as well as employees upon hire with certain workers’ rights, including workers’ compensation, immigration agency inspections, and law enforcement actions at the workplace. This obligation commences on or before February 1, 2026, and continues annually thereafter. The bill requires the Labor Commissioner to develop a template notice that must be available on or before January 1, 2026, and updated annually. The bill also requires, subject to an employee’s request, that the employer notify the employee’s designated emergency contact if the employee is arrested or detained at work. The bill carries an anti-retaliation provision and will be enforced by the Labor Commissioner with a penalty of $500 per employee per violation, except that the penalty for a violation of the emergency contact provision will be an amount up to $500 per employee for each day the violation occurs, up to a maximum of $10,000 per employee.

New Requirement To Include Training Records in Personnel File

SB 513 requires that personnel records relating to the employee’s performance include education and training records and require employers to ensure those records contain the following information: employee name, training provider name, the duration and date of the training, core competencies of a training – including skills in equipment or software – and the resulting certification or qualification.

“Stay or Pay” Employment Contract Repayment Prohibition

This new law prohibits any agreement entered into with an employee beginning January 1, 2026, requiring the employee to reimburse an employer if they leave their employment. Specific exceptions to the new law include tuition reimbursement and retention bonuses, subject to specific requirements. Click here for our further discussion regarding this new law.

New Law Aimed to Eliminate Discrimination in Use of Artificial Intelligence For Hiring and Job Selection

This new law, which took effect October 1, 2025, requires that employers who use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in regard to hiring and job selection, ensure that the AI is free from bias.  Click here for our detailed discussion regarding this new law.

Judicial Proceeding and Jury Duty Leaves

AB 406 expands the reasons for use of California Paid Sick Leave under the Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act of 2014 (“HWHFA”) and amends the state’s unpaid job-protected leave to include specific judicial proceedings and jury duty leave effective January 1, 2026. The new changes add in an employee’s right to use paid sick leave and take protected unpaid leave if they or a family member are a victim of certain crimes and are attending judicial proceedings related to that crime. Such judicial proceedings include, but are not limited to, any delinquency proceeding, a post-arrest release decision, plea, sentencing, postconviction release decision, or any proceeding where a right of that person is an issue. The term victim in this specific covered reason is defined as a person against whom a violent felony, serious felony, and/or felony theft or embezzlement is committed, as well as a person who suffers direct or threatened physical, psychological, or financial harm due to the commission or attempted commission or specific crimes or delinquent acts.

The bill also amends the existing jury duty leave law, to remove the requirement that employees must provide reasonable notice prior to taking time off to serve on a jury. However, if an employee uses paid sick leave or unpaid job-protected leave for jury duty, the same notice standard applies for this covered reason as for other covered reasons of use under these provisions, i.e. reasonable advance notice unless advance notice is not feasible.

Bias Mitigation Training Disclosures Protection

The new law, SB 303, provides that an employee’s assessment, testing, admission, or acknowledgment of their own personal bias that was made in good faith and solicited or required as part of a bias mitigation training does not constitute unlawful discrimination under FEHA. The stated purpose of the law is to encourage employers to conduct bias mitigation training and to affirm that conducting such training does not, by itself, constitute unlawful discrimination.

New Definitions of Pay Scale for Posted New Positions

Current law requires that employers with 15 or more employees make available the “pay scale” of a position to a job candidate applying for that position. SB 642 revises the definition of “pay scale” to mean a “good faith” estimate of the salary or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position upon hire. The new law also expands the statute of limitations to assert pay equity claims from two years to up to three years after the cause of action occurs and allow recovery of lost wages for the entire time during which the violation occurred, up to six years. “Wages” and “wage rates” are defined in the bill as including, for purposes of Labor Code Section 1197.5 only, all forms of pay, including, but not limited to, salary, overtime pay, bonuses, stock, stock options, profit sharing and bonus plans, life insurance, vacation and holiday pay, cleaning or gasoline allowances, hotel accommodations, reimbursement for travel expenses, and benefits.

Employer Pay Data for Employers with 100 or More Employees

SB 464 requires an employer with 100 or more employees to collect and store any demographic information gathered by an employer or labor contractor for the purpose of submitting the required pay data report to the Civil Rights Department (“CRD”) separately from employees’ personnel records, and requires a court to impose a civil penalty against an employer that fails to file the pay data report if requested to do so by the CRD. The bill also, beginning January 1, 2027, increases the number of job categories employers must report from 10 to 23. 

Extended Statue of Limitations for Sexual Assault Claims

AB 250 extends the eligibility period for revival of claims seeking to recover damages suffered as a result of an alleged sexual assault that would otherwise be barred prior to January 1, 2026 because the applicable statute of limitations has or had expired. To revive sexual assault claims, including derivative claims for wrongful termination and sexual harassment, among others, the plaintiff must demonstrate that one or more entities legally responsible for damages engaged in a cover up.

The bill defines a “cover up” as a “concerted effort to hide evidence relating to a sexual assault that incentivizes individuals to remain silent.” The bill permits a cause of action for any such claim to proceed if already pending in court on the effective date of the bill or, if not filed by that date, to be commenced between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2027.

Enforcing Tip Theft

SB 648, signed into law on July 30, 2025, authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate and issue citations or file civil actions against employers who unlawfully take or withhold employee gratuities.

If you have any questions regarding the new employment laws for 2026, contact our employment lawyer Scott Liner at [email protected].

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_{Please note that this article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice and does constitute an attorney-client relationship. It is recommended to consult with an attorney directly for specific guidance pertaining to your business and its practices.}