The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) recently published its model “Workplace Know Your Rights” notice pursuant to the Workplace Know Your Rights Act (SB 294) signed into law by Governor Newsom on October 12, 2025.
Employers with employees in California must provide this notice to all California employees by February 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, and to new California employees upon hire. The Notice may be distributed “in a manner the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information,” which includes “personal service, email, or text message, if it can reasonably be anticipated to be received by the employee within one business day of sending.”
As required by SB 294 (Labor Code section 1550 et seq.), the Notice contains a description of workers’ rights in the following areas: (1) workers’ compensation benefits, (2) notice of inspection by immigration agencies, (3) protection against unfair immigration-related practices, (4) the right to organize a union or engage in concerted activity in the workplace and (5) constitutional rights when interacting with law enforcement at the workplace.
The Notice is currently available in English and Spanish. The DLSE is in the process of translating the Notice into different languages, including Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, as required by SB 294.
SB 294 also requires employers to provide existing employees in California the opportunity to name an emergency contact by no later than March 30, 2026, and at the time of hire for new employees hired after that date, which an employee must be permitted to update as needed. The employer shall allow the employee to indicate whether the emergency contact should be notified if the employee is arrested or detained on their worksite, or during work hours or during the performance of the employee’s job duties, but not on the worksite, if the employer has actual knowledge of the arrest or detention of the employee.
An employer who violates SB 294 may be subject to a penalty of up to $500 per employee for each violation, except a violation of the emergency contact information section can result in a penalty of up to $500 per employee for each day the violation occurs, up to a maximum of $10,000 per employee. If you have any questions about this article, please contact Thomas H. Petrides at tpetrides@vedder.com, Charlie Y. Wang at cwang@vedder.com or any other Vedder attorney with whom you have worked.
