The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives California consumers rights over how and whether the personal data they provide to businesses is collected, retained and sold. Because its definitions are broad, the CCPA applies to employee data collected by employers for employment purposes — which is problematic because, under the rights established by the CCPA, employees could potentially request to have their personal information deleted.
To address this issue, the Legislature passed AB 25 in 2019, largely exempting employee data from the CCPA’s requirements for one year; this year’s AB 1281 extends the exemption for an additional year to the end of 2021. Take note that employers must still comply with the additional CCPA requirements that include providing notice either before or at the time of collecting personal information from an applicant or employee. That notice must describe every category of information that will be collected and the purposes for which it will be used. CCPA regulations describing how employers can give a compliant notice are now in effect.
