Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed SB 947, the No Robo Bosses Act, which bars California employers from relying solely on automated decision systems to discipline or fire workers, according to the governor’s office and CNBC (opens in new tab). The bill’s text says the new law becomes operative July 1, 2027.
Under the law, when an employer relies primarily on an AI system’s output to fire or discipline a worker, a person must corroborate that output with other information, CNBC (opens in new tab) reported. Examples include managers’ evaluations and personnel files. CNBC (opens in new tab) reported that affected workers must also receive written notice that AI was primarily used in the decision, along with a description of the data involved and a human contact.
Newsom vetoed an earlier version of the bill last year. In his veto message he wrote that “rather than addressing the specific ways employers misuse this technology, the bill imposes unfocused notification requirements on any business using even the most innocuous tools,” CNBC (opens in new tab) reported. The author, state Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, brought the bill back without the advance-notification requirement and without coverage of gig workers, a provision that had drawn criticism from Uber and Lyft, according to CNBC (opens in new tab).
“No worker should ever be fired or disciplined by a machine, AI or not,” McNerney said, according to CNBC (opens in new tab). “AI must remain a tool controlled by humans, not the other way around.” Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, and the bill’s lead sponsor, said, “When working people organize, we get results,” CNBC (opens in new tab) reported. The Electronic Frontier Foundation called the bill a “strong step toward giving workers the protections they need in workplaces that use automated decisionmaking systems,” according to CNBC (opens in new tab).
Opponents warned that the law is unclear. In a letter cited by CNBC (opens in new tab), Robert Singleton of the tech industry group Chamber of Progress wrote: “The bill's obligations generally apply when an employer 'primarily relies' on an automated decision system, but that critical term is never defined.” Steve Hilton, the Republican nominee for governor, backed the bill. “In some ways, I don't think SB 947 goes far enough,” he said, according to CNBC (opens in new tab).
Newsom signed other workplace AI measures the same day. According to the Associated Press, as published by the Guardian, they ban employers from using biometric data to predict workers’ emotional states and require advance notice when AI drives mass layoffs. The governor’s office listed bills including SB 951, on notice of technological displacement, and AB 1331 and AB 1883, on workplace surveillance. “AI should expand opportunity – not come at the expense of workers and families,” Newsom said, according to the AP.