Bo Tefu | California Black Media
San Francisco workers will receive new protections governing how employers use artificial intelligence to monitor, discipline and terminate employees under a package of bills signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The four measures, signed Sept. 30, address the growing use of AI and automated surveillance in California workplaces. The laws require greater human oversight of employment decisions, disclosure when automation contributes to mass layoffs and restrictions on some forms of workplace surveillance.
Senate Bill 947, authored by Sen. Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton), prohibits employers from relying solely on automated decision-making systems to discipline or fire workers. Employers must independently verify an automated system’s findings and notify workers when the technology contributes to a disciplinary or termination decision.
“No worker should ever be fired or disciplined by a robo boss,” McNerney said. “Artificial intelligence systems have the potential to increase productivity, but they’ve also been prone to errors, bias, and misjudgments.”
Another measure, SB 951, requires employers to disclose when AI or other automated technology contributes to a mass layoff, relocation or termination. It also directs the state Employment Development Department to collect information about AI’s impact on hiring and employment.
The package also moves into workplace privacy. AB 1331 prohibits surveillance technology in workplace bathrooms, while AB 1883 restricts employers from using AI-powered systems to interpret workers’ emotions or collect neural data.
The laws carry particular relevance in San Francisco, where artificial intelligence companies and technology firms are increasingly part of the city’s economy. As the industry grows, California is drawing a line between using AI as a workplace tool and allowing the technology to make consequential employment decisions without human accountability.
“AI should expand opportunity — not come at the expense of workers and families,” Newsom said.
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