California’s Workplace Know Your Rights Act Deadline Approaching: What Employers Must Do

Remember, under California’s new Workplace Know Your Rights Act, employers have until March 30, 2026, to provide their employees with the opportunity to designate emergency contacts.

Workplace Know Your Rights Act Requirements

As previously reported, California’s new law created two new compliance obligations. First, employers must provide a Know Your Rights notice to their employees. The initial deadline for this requirement was February 1, 2026. However, employers must continue to provide this notice to new employees and to all employees annually.

Second, the law requires employers provide their employees with the opportunity to designate emergency contacts and indicate whether they should be notified if the employee is arrested or detained at the worksite or offsite, if the arrest or detention occurs during working hours or during the performance of the employee’s job duties and the employer is aware of the arrest or detention. This March 30, 2026, deadline is approaching fast.

What Do Employers Need to Do by March 30?

No later than March 30, 2026, employers need to allow employees to designate an emergency contact and indicate whether their emergency contact should be notified if the employee is arrested or detained while working.

After March 30, 2026, new employees must be given the same opportunity at the time they are hired. Update any onboarding processes to ensure that new hires are given the opportunity to designate an emergency contact and indicate whether the contact should be notified if the employee is arrested or detained while working.

Inform employees that they may update their emergency contact information at any time.

How Should Employers Collect Emergency Contact Information?

The law doesn’t require a particular format for this emergency contact information, and the California Labor Commissioner hasn’t released a template form. However, employers can use a form to collect employees’ emergency contact information and their preferences for contacting their emergency contact(s) in the event they are arrested or detained while working. A new form can be created, or employers can update their existing emergency contact information form to include all the required information.

Alternatively, an HRIS or other online platform can be used to obtain and document these designations, as long as the process captures the required information and allows employees to update it during employment.

Whichever method is used, it’s best to require an explicit “yes/no” answer to whether their emergency contact should be notified if the employee is arrested or detained while working rather than allowing a blank response. If an employee leaves it blank anyway, follow up to obtain a clear “yes/no” when feasible.

What if an Employee Declines to Designate an Emergency Contact?

An employee may prefer not to designate an emergency contact, and that is okay. The law requires that employers provide employees with the opportunity to designate a contact, but it doesn’t require employees to do so. Employers facing this situation should document that they offered the option and the employee declined and then keep that record with their Workplace Know Your Rights Act documentation.

Employers can visit the California Labor Commissioner’s website to learn more about the Workplace Know Your Rights Act or to obtain the Labor Commissioner’s model notice, which is now available in English, Spanish, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, Hindi, Punjabi, Arabic and Urdu.

James W. Ward, J.D., Employment Law Subject Matter Expert/Legal Writer and Editor, CalChamber

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