Know Your Rights Notice Due February 1

The California Labor Commissioner recently published its brand-new Workplace Know Your Rights Notice in both English and Spanish! This is important because a new 2026 law (SB 294) requires employers to distribute this stand-alone notice to all current employees (and any authorized representatives) by February 1, 2026, and at other times! Keep reading to ensure you stay in compliance.

The new Know Your Rights notice informs employees of specific workplace rights such as retaliation, immigration status, and interactions with law enforcement, union activity, Constitutional rights, and workers’ compensation. While employers are not required to use the Labor Commissioner’s sample notice, it is recommended to ensure that you cover all required topics under the new law.

Employers must distribute this notice at specific times, including:

• Initially, on or before February 1, 2026
• Annually thereafter
• At the time of hire

Language: The notice must be in the language normally used to communicate with employees. If the template notice is not available in that language on the Labor Commissioner’s website, then the written notice may be provided in English.

Distribution: The notice should be distributed in the way you normally use to communicate with your employees. This can include personal service, email, or text message, if you can anticipate the employee will receive it within one business day of sending.

Record-Keeping: Employers must keep a record of every time they send out this notice and the dates sent, for up to three years.