Likely restrictions on workplace surveillance in 2027
A California bill would restrict private and public employers from monitoring their employees using workplace surveillance tools that use artificial intelligence
The California legislature is in the final stages of considering AB 1883, a measure which, if signed into law, will restrict private and public employers from monitoring their employees using workplace surveillance tools that use artificial intelligence.
Key provisions, narrow exceptions
The measure would prohibit any employer from using a workplace surveillance tool on employees that uses artificial intelligence that is capable of either (1) recognizing, or making predictions about, an individual’s emotional state or (2) collecting neural data. Neural data is defined as “information that is generated by measuring the activity of a worker’s central or peripheral nervous system, and that is not inferred from nonneural information.”
The measure defines “workplace surveillance tool” as any system or device that collects or facilitates the collection of such things as worker communications or activities by means other than direct observation by a person, including by video or audio surveillance.
An early version of the measure would have applied its protections to independent contractors, but that was dropped.
An employer would be allowed to use a workplace surveillance tool “to ensure safety, or otherwise” only if the tool does not use artificial intelligence at all – that is, tools that are not state-of-the-art — or does not use artificial intelligence in one of the two specified ways.
The measure also would not prohibit an employer from using a workplace surveillance tool relating to the development of aircraft for the use in national airspace or “the development of products or services for national security, military, space, or defense purposes.” Even those limited exceptions would apply “only to the operations covered by a federal statute, federal regulation, or binding federal contract where the use of that tool that is reasonablynecessary to comply with the federal statute, the federal regulation, or the binding federal contract.”
Enforcement, remedies
In an enforcement action, employers would be subject to a penalty of up to $500 for each violation, meaning $500 for each employee subject to each act of surveillance found to be unlawful under this measure. An employee would not be authorized to sue their employer for damages for violating this law.
Reason for measure
The author of the measure, Los Angeles area Assemblymember Issac Bryan, claims it is necessary to block sophisticated AI-assisted tools that enable employers “to monitor worker sentiment to prevent workers from unionizing or advocating for their rights.”
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Click here to read the full article written by SCMV Shareholder Dan Eaton and published in The San Diego Union-Tribune.