Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill (AB) 2495, expanding California’s protections against retaliation and other workplace conduct involving a person’s perceived immigration status. The new law amends Labor Code section 1019 and will take effect January 1, 2027.
Existing California Labor Code section 1019 prohibits an employer or other person from engaging in specified “unfair immigration-related practices” for the purpose of retaliating against a person who exercises certain workplace rights. These practices include requesting more or different employment-verification documents than federal law requires, misusing E-Verify, threatening to file or filing a false report with a government agency, and threatening to contact or contacting immigration authorities.
Previously, section 1019 referred to rights protected by the Labor Code or a local ordinance applicable to employees. The amended statute covers the exercise or attempted exercise of rights under any local, state, or federal statute or regulation applicable to employees. Protected activity includes making a good-faith complaint, seeking information about legal compliance, informing another person of potential rights and remedies, or assisting that person in asserting those rights. Though the law excludes conduct undertaken by the employer at the express and specific direction or request of the federal government.
The new law also reaches conduct intended to prevent protected activity before it occurs. It prohibits conduct related to a person’s perceived immigration status that would reasonably tend to dissuade the person from doing something the person has a legal right to do. It similarly prohibits conduct that would induce a person to do something the person has a legal right to decline. As a result, an employer may face potential liability for statements or actions alleged to have discouraged a workplace complaint even if the individual ultimately did not assert the underlying right.
In addition, AB 2495 defines “employee” to include applicants, current employees, and former employees. The law also provides that a person’s actual immigration status is irrelevant to determining liability, consistent with existing Labor Code section 1171.5.
Before the law takes effect, employers should review their anti-retaliation, complaint-handling, hiring, and employment-verification practices. Human resources personnel, recruiters, and managers should understand that immigration-related comments, questions, or threats may create legal risk even when they do not follow a formal complaint.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
[View Source]
