The California Privacy Rights Act is a comprehensive consumer privacy law that requires covered businesses to follow strict privacy requirements with respect to the personal information they collect about consumers. The law’s broad provisions also encompass personal information collected about employees, job applicants and independent contractors.
When the law first took effect in 2020, it was known as the California Consumer Privacy Act, and information collected and used within the context of a person’s employment or application for employment was exempted from most of the law’s requirements.
That exemption, however, expired at the end of 2022, and effective January 1, 2023, personal information about employees and applicants are subject to all CPRA requirements. The law specified that the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) was to have published final regulations by July 1, 2022, with an enforcement date one year later on July 1, 2023. The agency, however, didn’t finalize their regulations until March 29, 2023. As such, per a California state court ruling, the agency cannot begin enforcement until March 29, 2024.
