What California's SB 951 adds to WARN Act notices for AI-driven layoffs

California's Cal-WARN Act requires employers to give advance written notice before certain large layoffs, plant closures and relocations. For workers, the notice is the first formal warning that a job is ending, and it points them to local job-placement help. For employers with sites in the state, a missed or defective notice carries a civil penalty.

The law has changed twice over the past year. Senate Bill 617, signed October 1, 2025, changed what a notice must contain from January 1, 2026. Senate Bill 951, which one law firm reports was signed September 30, 2026, adds disclosures for layoffs caused by artificial intelligence or other automation, starting January 1, 2027. The base rules still apply to every notice.

Which employers and sites are covered

The obligation applies to a covered establishment with 75 or more full- and part-time employees, according to the Employment Development Department (EDD). The count is taken over the preceding 12 months.

An employee counts toward the threshold only if they worked at least six of those 12 months before the required notice date. Part-time staff are included, which means a site's headcount can exceed what its full-time roster suggests.

What triggers a notice

EDD lists four triggers. A mass layoff means 50 or more employees within a 30-day period, regardless of what share of the workforce that is. A plant closure triggers notice at any number of affected employees.

A relocation of 100 miles or more triggers notice at any number of affected employees. Moving a call center to a foreign country triggers notice regardless of how many employees are affected.

EDD also names termination alongside these triggers but does not define it separately on its page. The statute's text is the place to check how termination is treated.

The 60-day notice and who must receive it

Notice must be given at least 60 days before the layoff, closure or relocation. If 60 days is not possible, the employer still files and must include an explanation.

Affected employees, or their representative, must receive the notice by first-class mail, by personal delivery, or by inclusion in the pay envelope. EDD says routine preprinted paycheck inserts do not qualify. Copies also go to EDD, the local Workforce Development Area, and the chief elected official of each affected city and county.

EDD asks employers to email the notice to its WARN address, with the employer's name in the subject line and contact details in the body. The file should be attached as DOC, DOCX or PDF. The same notice is also sent to the local area and the chief elected official.

The penalty is described in more than one way. EDD describes a possible civil penalty of $500 per day of violation. The Littler Mendelson article adds that back pay and benefits for affected workers are available under section 1402, and cites the up-to-$500-per-day penalty under section 1403.

What SB 617 added in January 2026

SB 617 applies to Cal-WARN notices issued on or after January 1, 2026. It does not change which employers or events trigger a notice. It changes what the notice must say.

Notices must now state whether the employer will coordinate rapid-response services through the local workforce development board, through another organisation, or not at all. Every notice must include a working email address and phone number for the local board, whether or not the employer coordinates services.

The notice must also describe the board's rapid-response activities and describe CalFresh, the state food assistance program, with the CalFresh benefits helpline and website. Where the employer does coordinate services, those services must be arranged within 30 days of the written notice.

What SB 951 adds for AI and automation from 2027

Littler reports that SB 951 was signed September 30, 2026, and takes effect January 1, 2027. It adds a separate disclosure for a covered mass layoff, relocation or termination caused in whole or in substantial part by AI or other automated technology. The 75-employee threshold, the 60-day notice and the penalties are unchanged.

The added notice content covers three points. The employer must state the number of layoffs substantially attributable to automation, with the occupations or job classifications and work locations involved. It must list the job functions that will be automated, and the category of AI or automated system used. The notice must also carry the statement "This notice is for a technology displacement" at the top of the notice.

EDD must post summaries of these notices online. Per CDF Labor Law, it must also publish quarterly statewide summaries of technological displacement. Separately, EDD must report to the Legislature by January 1, 2028, on how AI is affecting business hiring. That reporting duty places no obligation on employers.

Where the sources still disagree

What counts as the AI trigger is the main open question. Littler notes that the terms used for the trigger, including what counts as "other automated technology" and what counts as "in substantial part," are not defined in the bill. It also notes that a related section of the statute uses different wording. Separately, CDF Labor Law's own article is inconsistent on this point: it describes the layoff in one place as "supported" by AI and in another as "caused" by AI.

Summaries also differ on who publishes the disclosures. One CDF passage says employers must publish public summaries, while the body of the article assigns that duty to EDD. The quarterly publication schedule appears in only one part of that article. Littler's summary and the search summaries did not settle these points, and the enacted text was not available to this review.

Until the enacted text is checked, the exact scope of the AI trigger's undefined terms and the publication duties should be treated as unconfirmed. The 60-day rule, the 75-employee threshold and the penalty structure are the parts the sources agree on.