Wednesday, October 28, 2026
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TotalSource - WFN (State Alerts)
Key Takeaways
Impacted Employers: All California employers
Effective Date: January 1, 2027
Summary: California has enacted legislation that expands protections against immigration-related retaliation.
Next Steps: Employers should review policies and procedures to ensure they don’t prohibit or discourage employees from exercising rights protected under local, state, or federal employment laws. Employers should also train supervisors on the expanded protections.
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The Details
Background
California law prohibits employers from using certain immigration-related practices to retaliate against workers for exercising workplace rights. These practices, known as "unfair immigration-related practices," include actions such as requesting more employment-verification documents than federal law requires, misusing E-Verify, threatening to contact immigration authorities, or filing a false police report. Existing law also prohibits employers from engaging in these practices to retaliate against workers for exercising rights protected under the California code or local employment ordinances.
What’s Changing on January 1, 2027?
The amended law covers applicants, employees and former employees. It prohibits employers from engaging in unfair immigration-related practice against a person for exercising or attempting exercise rights protected under any local, state, or federal statutes or regulations applicable to employees.
Such rights include the following:
- Filing a complaint or informing any person of an employer’s or other party’s alleged violation of any local, state, or federal statute or regulation applicable to employees, so long as the complaint or disclosure is made in good faith.
- Seeking information regarding whether an employer or other party is in compliance with any local, state, or federal statute or regulation applicable to employees.
- Informing a person of their potential rights and remedies under any local, state, or federal statute or regulation applicable to employees, and assisting them in asserting those rights.
The amended law further prohibits employers from taking actions that would reasonably deter the individual from exercising rights protected by law or coerce the individual into doing something the person has a legal right to decline.
Next Steps
Employers should review anti-retaliation, complaint reporting, and workplace conduct policies to ensure they don’t prohibit or discourage employees from exercising rights protected under local, state, or federal employment laws. Employers should also train supervisors on the expanded protections.