As we are approaching end of year 2025 and welcoming the new year 2026, It is the time to look for upcoming changes in workplace labor law requirements in 2026 and update the labor law poster to comply with the updates.
All the employers must display the labor law posters which is updated and complied with current labor law requirements to avoid the penalties and other legal actions. Every year there are certain changes in labor law requirements which includes but not limited to employee rights, minimum wage, paid leaves, sick leaves, workplace safety. Although, all the states have different labor law requirement updates, below are some major updates in California state employment laws.
Minimum Wage Increase:
The Minimum wage of California State has increased from $16.40 to $16.90 per hour which means the minimum annual salary for the employees in California will be $70,304. Some counties or cities has their own minimum wage requirements which can also be increased in new year, so employers also must look on those updates before updating the labor law posters.
Employers action need to be taken:
They must be aware of these changes and keep looking for the upcoming updated poster to avoid being out of compliance or sometime pre-ordering the updated poster would also be less stressful.
They need to make sure that each employee is paid minimum wage as per the state requirement.
Public Employment Relations Board (PERB)
Public Employment Relation Board (PERB) will now take care of some labor disputes instead of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from January 01, 2026.
Employers action need to be taken:
Employers should be aware of these changes and keep an eye on employee rights policies to avoid being in any kind of labor law disputes. They need to be aware of changes of policies regarding handling the labor disputes.
Civil Penalties for unpaid wage judgement
Employers has to pay civil penalties if they are failed to pay wage theft judgement for 180 days. Half of the penalty will be paid to the employee, and the other half of the penalty will go to the enforcement.
Employers action need to be taken:
Employers should be aware of this change, and they should be actively looking into the wage judgements to avoid this kind of penalties.
“Know Your Right Notice”
Starting from 01 February 2026, employers are bound to provide their workers a notice in written which explains their rights which includes:
- Immigration related unreasonable practices
- Workers right regarding compensation benefits
- Workers right to participate or organize an union or taking part in other coordinated activities.
- Workers right for participating in Law Enforcement activity at work.
Employers also need to provide each employee a designated system by March 30, 2026, where they can add their emergency contact information who can be contacted in the case of arrest or detention.
Employers action need to be taken:
- Create or build a system by March 30, 2026, to add an emergency contact information from employee.
- Provide a notice for annual employee rights by February 01, 2026.
Equal Pay Act
Employer should include complete information regarding employee compensation which includes but not limited to number of days of vacation, bonus, salary and stock options. The time for filing the claim by the worker was expanded from two year to three year after the employment end date and they can recover back up to six years of pay. The sex discrimination section was updated with “another sex” instead of “opposite sex” to provide the protection against wage discrimination for different race and ethnicity.
Employers action need to be taken:
Update all the require information in display poster and stay current with the labor law requirement to avoid penalties.
Stay or Pay contract Banned
Stay or Pay contract are banned from January 01, 2026, which prohibit employers to ask for training cost or bonuses if the employee leaves before contract ends. There is certain exemption from this. This law includes the contract which started on or after January 01, 2026.
Employers action need to be taken:
Perform an audit on training contracts or any other clauses which says employee has to repay and revise them to stay in compliance.
Sick and safe leave Protections
Sick and Safe leave are expanded in 2026 which allows employee to take paid sick leave for judicial proceedings or witness testimony and unpaid leave if they are victim of certain crimes. From January 01, 2026, the employee will get job protected leave for victim related court appearances.
Employers action need to be taken:
Perform a review on company leave policy and update required information to stay compliant with current leave act.
Tip and Gratuity
All the employers are required to pay full gratuity to workers without charging any additional fees. All the gratuities should be paid within next business day and employers should keep the record of those.
Employers action need to be taken:
Make sure the tip amount is paid to employees within one business day and the records are up to date.
Data Breach Reporting Timeline
All the businesses located in California must inform affected individual about data breach within 30 days after receiving the information of breach. If more than 500 individuals affected than the notification to Attorney General should be made within 15 days.
Employers action need to be taken:
Make sure that all the employee data are protected.
Final Thoughts:
Although, there are so many labor law updates coming in 2026 and as we are approaching end of 2025, the employer should be more proactive and try to make sure that they are staying up to date with current labor law requirements. Also, they must make sure that they are displaying the current employee right poster to avoid the penalties and legal formalities.
Our website is also providing option to get the new poster automatically when there is any new update, and employer does not need to worry about labor law poster compliance.
You can also pre-order the updated California labor law poster.
