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Committee advances multiple bills to limit workplace surveillance and protect worker data
Summary
The committee heard two separate bills (AB 1221 and AB 1331) that would restrict invasive workplace surveillance, require notice and data protections, and bar discriminatory biometric and emotional‑recognition tools; labor unions supported the bills while business groups and hospitals raised concerns about operational and security impacts.
Two related bills addressing employer surveillance and worker data protection were heard in the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee.
AB 1221, introduced by Assemblymember Bridal, would prohibit use of certain invasive or unreliable surveillance technologies in the workplace, ban inferring protected characteristics (such as health or immigration status) from surveillance outputs, require employers to notify workers before using such tools, and bar employers and third parties from sharing or selling worker surveillance data beyond permissible uses. The bill would also require employers to produce corroborating human‑reviewed evidence before disciplining or terminating a worker based primarily on surveillance outputs.
Yvonne Fernandez of the California Federation of Labor Unions, a cosponsor, said current surveillance tools — including…
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