California employers can now get a first look at the state’s key workplace-related legislative proposals in 2026. The state’s deadline for introducing new legislation in the current session was February 20, and lawmakers introduced nearly 1,800 bills – including many that cover significant labor and employment issues you’ll want to know about. Catch a teaser below.

Table of Contents

• Antidiscrimination Protections
• Artificial Intelligence + Workplace Surveillance
• Employee Leaves and Accommodations
• Immigration
• Privacy and Cyber
• Wage and Hour
• Workplace Safety

Antidiscrimination Protections

• Expansion of Ban-the-Box Requirements (AB 2095). In addition to existing requirements under California’s Fair Chance Act, employers would be prohibited from refusing to hire an applicant or taking other adverse action solely or in part because of the individual’s conviction history, unless the employer could show, after following a specific process, that the conviction history has a direct and adverse impact on the specific duties of the desired job.

• Menopause-Related Protections (AB 1940). This bill would expand sex-based discrimination prohibited by the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to include discrimination because of medical conditions related to perimenopause, menopause, or postmenopause.

Want more? Last year, Rhode Island became the first state to explicitly enact workplace protections for women experiencing the menopausal transition. As the call for...

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