California Passes New AI Workplace Laws Targeting Layoffs…

California has enacted a new package of laws aimed at regulating how artificial intelligence is used in the workplace, including its role in employee terminations, mass layoffs and workplace surveillance, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced.

The measures primarily address companies using AI to make employment decisions or monitor workers rather than efforts to use artificial intelligence simply to replace human employees. They also give workers new rights concerning how AI can be deployed on the job.

"AI should expand opportunity — not come at the expense of workers and families," Newsom said in a statement. "As this technology reshapes the workplace, California is putting people at the center."

California AI Laws Require Human Oversight In Firing Decisions

The legislation, divided across several bills, bars employers from relying exclusively on AI when making decisions about employee discipline or termination.

Companies must also provide greater transparency when an AI system is responsible for a mass layoff, relocation or termination. The measures are among the first in the United States to establish specific workplace protections governing the use of artificial intelligence in employment decisions.

The legislation also includes restrictions on workplace surveillance, including protections involving employee bathrooms.

Another measure addresses the legal profession by prohibiting lawyers from "fully handing over core legal work" such as drafting briefs to artificial intelligence.

Newsom Criticizes Federal Approach To AI Regulation

Newsom also signed an executive order directing California state agencies to continue using the term "artificial intelligence" rather than "super intelligence," following a recent Trump administration directive requiring some federal employees to use the latter term.

The governor has sought to establish California as a leader in AI regulation and has compared the potential risks associated with the technology to those historically associated with industries such as aviation.

Newsom also criticized comments from the Trump administration suggesting that the AI industry could regulate itself.

He described those statements as "bulls*it" and added, "we have to do a lot more in the absence of federal leadership."

Meta Layoff Complaints Add To AI Workplace Debate

California's new workplace protections come amid complaints from Meta employees over the use of AI tools in determining which workers could be laid off.

The employees alleged that AI systems used by the company "disproportionately selected" workers who had taken medical leave as candidates for layoffs.

The legislation also comes as AI becomes more involved in workplace management, including employee monitoring and employment-related decisions. According to HR Dive, one in four managers reportedly uses AI to help determine which employees should be cut "often or all the time."