As 2026 approaches, California employers should prepare for another year of evolving employment laws and court decisions that will impact workplace policies and employee rights. Staying informed now can help minimize risk and ensure continued compliance.
The summaries below highlight key developments authored by JMBM’s Labor & Employment attorneys to help you plan for the year ahead. If you have questions or need guidance on how these changes may affect your business, please contact a JMBM attorney
Click the Read More links below each summary for additional details.
California’s 2026 Labor and Employment Law Updates – What Employers Need to Know
As we enter 2026, a new wave of labor and employment laws is set to reshape workplace requirements for California employers. From expanded paid family leave and new AI regulations to strengthened pay equity and whistleblower protections, these changes carry significant implications for businesses across the state. This client alert highlights the most impactful legislative updates. Stay ahead of the curve by understanding your obligations and taking proactive measures to ensure compliance.
Key developments covered:
AB 858: Rehiring and Retention of Displaced Workers
AB 692: Employment Contract Repayment Prohibition
SB 617: California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (WARN) Updates
SB 294: The Workplace Know Your Rights Act
SB 303: Bias Mitigation Training
SB 464: Strengthening Pay Data Reporting Requirements
SB 513: Personnel Records
SB 19: Criminalization of Threats of Mass Violence
SB 590: Paid Family Leave Expansion to Designated Persons
AB 406: Paid Sick Leave for Jury Duty and Victims of Violence
SB 642: Strengthening Pay Equity Laws
SB 648: Employee Gratuities
SB 261: DLSE Enforcement of Wage Judgments
AB 250: Revival of Statute of Limitations on Sexual Assault Claims
SB 477: Revisions to FEHA’s Enforcement Procedures
AB 1523: Court-Ordered Mediation
Key National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Developments in 2025 and What to Look for in 2026
On December 18, 2025, the Senate confirmed James Murphy and Scott Mayer to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Crystal Carey as the NLRB’s General Counsel. Murphy’s and Mayer’s confirmations will restore the NLRB’s quorum and give the Board a Republican majority that is likely to create employer-friendly precedent as they address the Board’s current backlog.
We have prepared a summary of some of the major Board developments from this year, as well as what to look for in 2026.
Uncertainty and delay: With the NLRB lacking a quorum and facing staffing cuts, employers can expect increased delays in union elections, Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) processing, and Board rulings. The likely delays may result in prolonged bargaining limbo, deferred enforcement, and extended vulnerability for both employers and unions.
Shifting Landscape for Union Organizing and Representation: The reinstatement of the “blocking charge” rule and removal of the 45‑day challenge window to voluntary recognition may encourage more employers to challenge organizing efforts and could delay union representation determinations.
California’s New “Quit Fee” Ban: What Employers Need to Know About AB 692
Beginning January 1, 2026, California employers will enter a new legal landscape when it comes to training-repayment agreements, onboarding costs, and other contract terms that impose financial penalties when an employee leaves. Assembly Bill 692, now signed into law, effectively prohibits “quit fees” and most forms of repayment provisions tied to continued employment, declaring them unlawful restraints of trade.
If your business uses training-repayment agreements, signing bonuses with clawbacks, or employment contracts that impose fees when a worker resigns early, this law requires a careful second look.
SB 553 One Year Later: Key Lessons and Required Next Steps for Employers
It has been more than a year since SB 553 (California’s comprehensive workplace-violence prevention law) became mandatory for most California employers. Employers now enter the first cycle of annual review and retraining, and Cal/OSHA’s expectations are rising.
Before SB 553, workplace-violence policies were largely elective and inconsistent. Plans were often generic, rarely updated, and reactive rather than preventive. Over the past year, every California employer covered by SB 553 has been required to build and maintain a formal, site-specific Workplace Violence Prevention Plan , and to integrate it into day-to-day operations.
California’s New AI and Automated-Decision Rules: Why Employers Should Act Now
Effective October 1, 2025, new California regulations make explicit what was already implicit: the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)’s anti-discrimination rules fully apply to “automated-decision systems” (ADS) used in employment. That includes not only sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) tools, but any computational process that helps decide who gets hired, promoted, disciplined, or otherwise receives an “employment benefit.”
SB 303: Ensuring Self-Awareness Isn’t Self-Incrimination
Effective January 1, 2026, SB 303 will add a section to the Government Code to address disclosures made during employer-sponsored “bias mitigation or bias elimination training, education, and activities” provided “for the purpose of educating employees on understanding, recognizing, or acknowledging the influence of conscious and unconscious thought processes and their associated impacts.”
Training Goes on File: SB 513 Expands Personnel File Requirements
California Labor Code section 1198.5 currently requires employers to maintain and make available to current and former employees personnel records “relating to the employee’s performance or to any grievance concerning the employee.” Effective January 1, 2026 the scope of employer obligations under section 1198.5 will expand.
AB 288: California’s New Labor Law Could Pull Private Employers Into State Oversight
California’s AB 288 creates a major potential shift in labor-relations enforcement. For the first time, the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), traditionally limited to public-sector labor disputes, would be able to hear certain private-sector representation petitions and ULP charges when the federal NLRB National Labor Relations Board is delayed or unable to act.
Because the NLRB immediately sued California to block the law, its future is uncertain. But employers should prepare for the possibility of a dual enforcement system.
Notable Local Ordinances Taking Effect in 2026
As employers prepare for 2026, it is increasingly important to monitor not only state-level employment law changes but also the wave of local ordinances emerging across California. With 58 counties and hundreds of cities, which include some of the largest and most heavily regulated jurisdictions in the country, California’s patchwork of local rules continues to expand, creating compliance obligations that can vary significantly depending on where employees perform work.
JMBM’s Labor and Employment attorneys counsel businesses and management on workplace issues, helping to establish policies that address problems and reduce job-related lawsuits. We act quickly to resolve claims and aggressively defend our clients in all federal and state courts, before the Department of Labor, the NLRB, and other federal, state and local agencies, as well as in private arbitration forums. We represent employers in collective bargaining negotiations and arbitration. If you have questions or need guidance on how these changes may affect your business, please contact a JMBM attorney.
About the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®
The hospitality attorneys in the Global Hospitality Group® of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP comprise the premier hospitality practice in a full-service law firm, and the most experienced legal and advisory team in the industry. Our team of seasoned hotel lawyers has helped clients with more than 4,600 hospitality properties located around the globe valued at more than $123 billion, and have worked on more than 2,700 management and franchise agreements. Our experience provides one of the most extensive virtual data bases of market terms for deals and financings. The hospitality lawyers of our team are not just great hotel lawyers—we are also hospitality consultants and business advisors, dealmakers and facilitators of the flow of capital. We help our clients find the right operator, joint venture partner or capital provider. We know who to call and how to reach them.
Jim Butler
+1 310 201 3526
JMBM
