California Employers Must Provide Employees and New Hires the Opportunity to Name an Emergency Contact by March 30, 2026

The California Legislature recently passed the “Workplace Know Your Rights Act (“Act”).” The Act requires employers to provide an annual workplace rights notice to employees focused on protection against immigration-related practices.

While this new notice requirement contained in the Act has been widely publicized, another notice requirement was enacted as part of the Act to less fanfare with a deadline for compliance of March 30, 2026.

Specifically, as part of the Act, the Legislature added Labor Code section 1555, which provides:

• If an employee has notified their employer that they would like their designated emergency contact to be notified in the event the employee is arrested or detained, the employer must do so.

• If an arrest or detention occurs during work hours, or during the performance of the employee’s job duties but not on the worksite, the employer shall notify the employee’s designated emergency contact only if the employer has actual knowledge of the arrest or detention of the employee.

• Employers must provide an employee the opportunity to name an emergency contact no later than March 30, 2026, for an existing employee, and at the time of hire for a new employee hired after March 30, 2026.

• Employers must also allow an employee to provide updated emergency contact information through the duration of employment.

Long before the” Workplace Know Your Rights Act” was enacted, employers routinely voluntarily provided employees with the opportunity to provide an emergency contact. Such contact could be notified, for example, if the employee suffered a medical emergency during work. The Act now requires that an employer provide the employee with the opportunity to provide an emergency contact, and to allow the opportunity for an employee to disclose whether that emergency contact should be notified if the employee is arrested or detained under the various circumstances described in Section 1555.

An employer who violates these requirements is subject to a significant penalty of $500 per day, per employee, with a maximum penalty of $10,000 per employee.

Given the substantial consequences for failing to comply with the employee’s directive to notify the emergency contact, employers should carefully document that they have offered employees and new hires the opportunity to designate an emergency contact. If the employee chooses to do so,  the employer should also  document whether the employee/new hire has directed the employer to notify the emergency contact if the employee is arrested or detained. In all cases, the employee’s instructions should be acknowledged in writing.

If you have any questions about this additional requirement under the Act, please do not hesitate to contact the attorneys at Cook Brown LLP.