California's unique consumer privacy law was strengthened on January 1 as a result of a ballot initiative that 2020 voters endorsed. A new privacy law that puts new requirements on companies to make sure that employees have more authority over the gathering and utilization of their personal data takes effect this year.
What does California's Consumer Privacy Act imply?
In June 2018, Governor Brown signed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) into law. A ground-breaking piece of legislation, it imposes requirements on California businesses regarding how they acquire, use, or disclose Californians' data and gives the people of California a set of data rights equal to those found in Europe.
The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), which amends the historic California CCPA by extending its protections to staff, job seekers, and independent contractors, will go into effect on January 1, 2023, and firms that employ California residents must ensure they have taken the necessary steps to comply by that date.
An updated version of CCPA
Residents of California can ask for their data to be updated, destroyed, or not sold as a result. These standards now also apply to employers for the first time.
If you've noticed those boxes at the bottom of almost every website asking about your preferences for data privacy, you know the California privacy legislation has a significant impact. Employment lawyer Darcey Groden of Fisher Phillips predicts that it will also apply to employers.
While many businesses have the infrastructure in place to deal with customer data, attorney Darcey Groden noted that the employment connection is significantly more complex. In the job situation, there is just a lot of data that is continually being collected.
In most cases, you will need to account for your human resources file, health information, emails, and surveillance footage. This law is exceedingly intricate and it will be expensive to adhere to it. According to Zoe Argento, it will be particularly difficult for businesses that do not deal with consumers, for instance, businesses in the manufacturing and construction industries.
Companies with many employees and gathering a lot of data, like gig platforms, could also be significantly impacted. They normally do not have a privacy department, so this is quite new to them. Increased accountability around how some platforms use worker data to design their algorithm may result from more transparency.
