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With all the attention on immigration and workplace rights, how are laws changing? And how can you protect your employees, yourself and your company?
California employers have a new annual notice obligation under SB 294. As a California employer, February 1, 2026 is a date you need on your compliance calendar.
Signed into law on October 12, 2025, SB 294 creates an annual, stand-alone employee notice requirement, known as the Workplace Know Your Rights Act, that includes immigration-related workplace protection information, along with several other employee rights topics. It also pairs that annual notice with emergency-contact procedures that take effect on a separate timeline.
This is the kind of change that can slip through the cracks because it doesn’t feel like a “big” policy overhaul, at least not until you’re asked to prove you delivered the notice.
As a practical, business-focused overview of what’s required and how to comply with employer obligations, SB 294 requires employers to provide a stand-alone written notice to all employees before February 1, 2026 for current employees, upon hire for all new employees, and annually thereafter.
Why Employers Are Paying Attention: Immigration Protections Are Front and Center In California
Given the nature of Immigration-Rights employment issues in California, rather than being buried in a lengthy employee handbook or posted on a wall, the Workplace Know Your Rights Act notice must be provided as a separate, affirmative notice.
Although the Notice covers multiple workplace-rights topics, the piece getting the most attention is the immigration-related protection information, which educates employees on their rights and the limitation on what employers may do when immigration enforcement issues arise in the workplace.
Particularly, the Notice informs employees about:
- Worksite immigration inspections (including notice obligations regarding announced I-9 or employment records inspections), and
- Prohibitions on certain immigration-related retaliation or unfair practices tied to employees exercising workplace rights.
Beyond what the notice contains, how you send it to employees matters.
The Notice must be provided to employees in a language the employee understands, on or before February 1, 2026. The California Labor Commission’s Office currently has template notices available in English and Spanish, with translation to additional languages to be released soon.
In planning to distribute Notices, employers should:
- Select a distribution method (i.e., email for admin staff; paper hand-delivery with signed acknowledgment for field or hourly teams.)
- Match the language you normally use for employment communications
If you regularly communicate workplace policies in Spanish (or another language), you should plan to deliver the notice in that language as well. - Document it- the most common failure point we see with notice requirements is not intent, it’s proof. Ensure that employees sign an acknowledgment of receipt for the AB 294 Notice.
Emergency Contact Designation and Notification Procedures
In addition to the Notice requirement, SB 294 adds a separate compliance track tied to designated emergency contacts.
When authorized, employers must notify an employees’ designated emergency contact if the employee is detained or arrested while at the worksite or while performing job duties outside of the worksite.
No later than March 30th, employers must:
- Give employees a way to designate an emergency contact and indicate whether the employer is authorized to notify that contact if the employee is arrested or detained in connection with workplace enforcement activity;
- Be prepared to make that notification if the employer has knowledge of an arrest/detention scenario covered by the law.
Although enacted as a response to the federal immigration enforcement posture, being prepared to contact an employee’s emergency contact is always recommended. Having a procedure that can be executed consistently, without improvisation, reduces risk for harassment, retaliation, or discrimination claims.
A Practical Compliance Plan for Small and Mid-Sized California Employers
To ensure compliance with SB 294, consider implementing a compliance plan including:
- An annual Employment/HR compliance calendar. In addition to annual harassment training and employee handbook, include SB 294 notices and other compliance tasks (i.e., EEO-1 reporting, California Pay Data Reports…)
- Build a “Notice Day” workflow. Identify one day each year to deliver the notice, capture acknowledgment of receipt, and process for retaining documentation in a centralized HR compliance folder.
- Add “Know Your Rights” Notices to onboarding plans immediately. New hires should receive the Notice during onboarding, alongside wage notices and required policy acknowledgments.
- Train Human Resource Department staff on the emergency contact process. As a sensitive notification, Human Resource staff should train and practice for issuing such notices to an employee’s emergency contact.
- Pressure-test your process. If required to demonstrate compliance in 10 minutes, would you feel confident in your practices and documentation procedures?
Where Employer Liability Risk Hides
Most noncompliance is accidental; common missteps include:
- Assuming a poster or handbook reference is enough (it’s not)
- Sending the notice but failing to retain an acknowledgment of receipt as proof
- Not matching language practices with workforce needs
- Not integrating new requirements or processes into onboarding,
- Leaving managers without a clear protocol for enforcement-related scenarios
How Our Office Helps
Contact Jennifer Mancera at jennifer@sutterlegal.com to learn more about SB 294 and how to comply with Know Your Rights Notifications, or for assistance with
- A compliant distribution and acknowledgment workflow
- Onboarding packet updates
- Emergency contact designation forms and procedures
- Manager training on “what to do / what not to do” if enforcement activity occurs
- General Employment Compliance plans
