Governor Gavin Newsom just signed a sweeping executive order right before the holiday weekend directing California state agencies to study potential workforce disruptions caused by AI so they can protect displaced workers through new policy recommendations. The May 21 order tasks the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) with reviewing and making recommendations on a range of worker protection policies, from WARN Act revisions to severance standards to collective bargaining practices involving AI. But does any of this affect you right now? The short answer is no for California employers, but the EO still warrants close attention given how it could change things in the future.
No New Obligations Today
Executive Order N-6-26 (which you can find here) does not create any immediate legal obligations for private employers. Instead, it sets in motion a series of government reviews and analysis tasks with various deadlines, all aimed at informing potential future legislation and regulation. The directive is squarely aimed at state agencies, not businesses, and the order itself explicitly states that it creates no enforceable rights or benefits under law.
The Governor is trying to lay the groundwork for what could eventually become significant new employer mandates. Whether those mandates ever materialize, and what form they take, will depend on the recommendations that emerge from these government reviews, and what state lawmakers do with them.
The WARN Act Review: Watch...
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