The California Legislature passed SB 947, the No Robo Bosses Act of 2026, sending it to Governor Gavin Newsom with a September 30 signing deadline. The bill, which cleared the Senate 28-10 and the Assembly 53-14, would bar California employers from relying solely on automated decision-making systems to fire or discipline workers, making California the first state in the country to mandate human oversight of AI-driven workplace discipline if signed into law.
Key Takeaways
- SB 947 passed the California Senate 28-10 and the Assembly 53-14, arriving on Governor Newsom’s desk with a September 30, 2026, signing deadline.
- The bill prohibits California employers from using automated decision-making systems as the sole basis for firing or disciplining workers, and requires independent human verification when such systems inform termination or disciplinary decisions.
- Employers would be required to provide affected workers with plain-language written notice after using an automated decision system in a discipline or termination decision, including details on the system, the data it used, and a human reviewer’s contact information.
- SB 947 also prohibits employers from using automated systems that rely on workers’ personal information to predict their future behavior.
- The bill is a revised version of SB 7, which Newsom vetoed in October 2025 over concerns about overly broad scope and unfocused notification requirements.
The Bill Prohibits Sole Reliance on Automated Systems for Firing and Discipline
State Senator Jerry McNerney, a Democrat representing Pleasanton, introduced SB 947 on February 2, 2026. The bill amends Division 2 of the California Labor Code to create a legal framework governing how employers may use automated decision-making systems in the workplace. The legislation defines an automated decision system broadly as any computational process derived from machine learning, statistical modeling, data analytics, or artificial intelligence that replaces human discretion in producing scores, classifications, recommendations, or other outputs that affect workers.
The core prohibition is direct: California employers cannot rely solely on an automated decision system when firing, disciplining, or deactivating a worker. When an employer uses such a system to assist in making a termination or disciplinary decision, SB 947 requires independent human oversight and verification of the system’s output before the decision is carried out. The human reviewer must have the authority, competence, and practical ability to override the system’s recommendation. A rubber-stamp review does not satisfy the requirement.
SB 947 also imposes categorical prohibitions on certain uses of automated systems regardless of whether a human is involved in the final decision. Employers would be barred from deploying systems that use workers’ personal information to predict future behavior, a practice that has drawn scrutiny from labor advocates who argue that predictive analytics can penalize workers for patterns they have not yet exhibited. The bill also restricts automated systems in compensation decisions.
Post-Use Notice and Data Access Requirements Give Workers New Transparency Rights
Beyond the core prohibition on sole reliance, SB 947 establishes a set of transparency obligations that apply whenever an employer uses an automated decision system in connection with a discipline or termination decision. Employers must provide the affected worker with timely, plain-language, written notice after the decision is made. The notice must identify the automated system used, describe the data inputs the system relied on, provide contact information for the human reviewer who oversaw the decision, and include an anti-retaliation provision informing the worker of their right to challenge the outcome without fear of further adverse action.
Workers also gain a recurring data access right. Under SB 947, any worker subject to an automated decision system may request copies of their own data held by the system once every 12 months. The provision is designed to give workers visibility into the information that algorithmic systems are collecting and processing about their performance, conduct, and workplace activity.
The shift to post-use notice is one of the revisions that distinguish SB 947 from its predecessor. SB 7, the 2025 version of the bill, included pre-use notification requirements that Governor Newsom described in his veto letter as unfocused and burdensome. SB 947 replaces those requirements with a post-use framework, narrowing the notification trigger to situations where the automated system has already played a role in a specific adverse decision rather than requiring advance disclosure of every tool in the employer’s technology stack.
The Bill Addresses Concerns That Led to Newsom’s Veto of SB 7
SB 947’s legislative path is inseparable from the history of SB 7. In October 2025, Governor Newsom vetoed the predecessor bill despite its passage through both chambers. Newsom’s veto letter identified two primary concerns: the bill’s “unfocused notification requirements on any business using even the most innocuous tools” and its “overly broad restrictions on how employers may use ADS tools.” The veto effectively gave the bill’s authors a roadmap for revision.
Senator McNerney and the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, which sponsors SB 947, responded with a narrower bill. The 2026 version tightens the definition of what qualifies as an automated decision system, concentrates the prohibitions specifically on termination and discipline rather than the full range of employment decisions, and replaces pre-use notification with post-use disclosure. The bill also clarifies its interaction with California’s existing Fair Employment and Housing Act, which already provides protections against workplace discrimination and could apply in cases where automated systems produce discriminatory outcomes.
Whether those revisions satisfy Newsom remains an open question. The governor has not publicly signaled his intentions on SB 947. The September 30 deadline gives the governor’s office 25 days from the bill’s arrival to sign, veto, or allow the bill to become law without a signature.
SB 947 Would Make California the First State to Mandate Human Oversight of AI Workplace Discipline
If signed, SB 947 would establish California as the first U.S. state to require by statute that a human being verify and have the authority to override any AI-driven decision to fire or discipline a worker. The bill enters a regulatory landscape that is developing rapidly but unevenly. New York City’s Local Law 144, enacted in 2023, requires bias audits for automated hiring tools but does not extend to termination or discipline. Colorado’s AI Transparency Act addresses automated decision-making in insurance and other consumer-facing contexts. The European Union’s AI Act classifies workplace AI systems as high-risk and imposes conformity assessments, but implementation timelines extend through 2027.
SB 947 pushes into territory none of those frameworks have reached: regulating the ongoing management relationship between employer and employee, not just the hiring process. The bill reflects a growing concern among labor advocates and legislators that AI tools are moving beyond recruitment and into day-to-day supervision, attendance tracking, productivity scoring, and disciplinary recommendations, often without the worker’s knowledge or meaningful recourse.
Enforcement under SB 947 would run through the California labor commissioner, the state attorney general, or local prosecutors. Civil penalties of $500 per violation would apply. The bill’s sponsors argue that the enforcement mechanism, combined with the transparency requirements and categorical prohibitions, creates a framework that protects workers without banning the use of AI in the workplace outright. Opponents, including some employer groups, have argued that even the narrowed bill could chill adoption of productivity tools and create compliance uncertainty for California businesses operating at scale.
FAQs
What Does the No Robo Bosses Act Prohibit?
SB 947 prohibits California employers from relying solely on automated decision-making systems to fire or discipline workers. When such a system assists in a termination or disciplinary decision, the bill requires independent human oversight and verification. The bill also bans the use of automated systems that predict future worker behavior using personal information.
When Is the Deadline for Governor Newsom to Sign or Veto SB 947?
Governor Newsom has until September 30, 2026, to sign, veto, or allow the bill to become law without a signature. Newsom vetoed the predecessor bill, SB 7, in October 2025 over concerns about overly broad scope.
How Does SB 947 Differ from the Vetoed SB 7?
SB 947 narrows the definition of automated decision systems, limits the bill’s scope to termination and discipline decisions, and replaces pre-use notification requirements with a post-use disclosure framework. The revisions respond directly to the concerns Governor Newsom outlined in his October 2025 veto letter.
