California Enacts Broad Restrictions on Workplace Surveillance Tools

California's Assembly Bill 1331, effective January 1, 2027, establishes new limitations on workplace surveillance by prohibiting monitoring in private spaces such as bathrooms, locker rooms, and breakrooms. The law broadly defines surveillance tools to include video, audio, GPS, biometric systems, and activity-tracking devices, while providing limited exceptions for voluntary employee use and safety equipment. Employers must also disable surveillance during employee off-duty hours and cannot require workers to have data-collecting devices physically implanted.

California's new law represents one of the most comprehensive state-level efforts to date in restricting employer use of monitoring technology. The legislation takes a broad approach by defining surveillance tools to encompass not just traditional cameras and audio equipment, but also GPS trackers, biometric scanners, and activity-monitoring devices—creating a wide net of regulated technologies rather than addressing specific tools in isolation.

The law carves out narrow exceptions for employee-consented monitoring, safety equipment, and legally mandated surveillance, but these allowances are intentionally limited. Employers claiming monitoring is "strictly necessary" for personal spaces must document their justification before the effective date, placing the burden on businesses to prove necessity rather than simply implement monitoring practices.