AB 2027

Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law authorizes the division, which is headed by the Labor Commissioner, to enforce the Labor Code and all labor laws of the state, the enforcement of which is not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission. This bill would require an employer, or a vendor acting on behalf of an employer, to collect and process worker data only as strictly necessary to administer the employment relationship and fulfill specific obligations. The bill would prohibit an employer or vendor from using a worker data to train or deploy artificial intelligence to, among other things, replicate, automate, or replace a worker’s job, and to prohibit an employer or vendor from deploying artificial intelligence trained with worker data to replicate, automate, or replace a worker’s job. The bill would prohibit an employer from selling, disclosing, or otherwise providing access to worker data to a third party to train an artificial intelligence system for the purposes of replicating, automating, or replacing a worker’s job. The bill would prohibit a vendor providing services to an employer under a contract from providing access to the employer’s worker data to a third party or using an employer’s worker data to train artificial intelligence, as specified. The bill would require a contract between an employer and vendor to include specific terms, including, among others, a provision that the employer and vendor be jointly liable for a violation of these prohibitions. The bill would define terms for these provisions, including “employer” and “worker data.” The bill would require the Labor Commissioner and authorize a public prosecutor to enforce these provisions. The bill would authorize a worker, or their exclusive representative, who suffered a violation of these provisions to bring a civil action for damages, injunctive relief, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees and costs. The bill would establish a statutory penalty for a violation of these provisions of up to $500 per employee for each violation. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.