The 2025 Legislative Session ended on October 13, 2025, when the deadline for Governor Gavin Newsom to sign or veto pending bills expired. This session continued last year’s trend of involving fewer major employment law changes compared to prior years. Notably, the Governor vetoed several bills that would have imposed significant new obligations on employers related to artificial intelligence and workplace surveillance.

Read on for details regarding the Top Six New Employment Laws all California Employers and Human Resources Professionals should know about, as well as additional laws with more limited application or narrower scope that are nonetheless worthy of attention and several notable new local ordinances and new state and federal regulations. Unless otherwise noted, these laws will take effect January 1, 2026.

The 2025 Legislative Session drew to a close in mid-September with a flurry of legislative activity following the summer recess. Not surprisingly, a number of employment bills passed both Legislative chambers and have been sent to Governor Gavin Newsom for signature or veto. There were also some employment bills that stalled this session, including another bill that would have imposed strict requirements on businesses that use Artificial Intelligence in employment decision making, several bills that would have restricted the use of workplace surveillance tools, and a bill that would have imposed administrative fees on Labor Commissioner awards. However, since this is the first year of a two-year legislative cycle, some of these could resurface in the forthcoming 2026-2027 legislative session.

In the meantime, we have identified our “Top Eight” potential employment law changes and a summary of the remaining notable employment bills currently pending, organized by subject matter. Unless otherwise indicated, each of these bills has passed both houses of the legislature and is awaiting Governor Newsom’s signature or veto. We have also included several references to notable new state and federal regulations and guidance.

The California Legislature has departed for the summer recess, but not before continuing to amend and vote on pending bills, thus providing further clarity regarding the bills likely to be enacted into law. Many significant employment bills continue to move forward and have now passed one chamber of the Legislature and made progress through committees in the second chamber. While these bills still may be amended, and there is no guarantee that they will be enacted into law, they have survived another round of the legislative process.

We have identified the “Top Ten” proposed employment law changes that – if enacted– would have the most significant impact on California employers. These bills address hot topics including artificial intelligence, workplace surveillance, and responses to the uptick in federal immigration enforcement actions.

The deadline for bills to pass the legislative chamber of origin has expired, meaning we have reached the halfway point of the 2025 Legislative session. A significant number of new employment bills passed their house of origin and are beginning to work their way through the second chamber. We have identified the “Top Ten” bills that – if passed – would have the most significant impact on California employers. Notably, three of these bills are related to artificial intelligence, and another two are related to workplace surveillance – certainly two of the hottest topics this year.

The 2025 Legislative session is officially underway and has resulted in a significant number of new employment bills being introduced in the California Assembly and Senate. We are tracking more than 50 employment-related bills and numerous additional employment-related “spot” bills (essentially placeholders that allow legislators to come back later and propose more substantive legislation). We have identified the “Top Ten” bills that – if passed – would have the most significant impact on California employers.