California Consumer Privacy Act – What You Need to Know

Beginning on January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect. What does this mean for your business? Well, it COULD mean quite a bit! For any employer that employer California residents and has more than $25 million in revenue, there COULD be major compliance issues and class action exposure. We emphasize COULD because there is still the unknown factor that because of the way this act is written, it MIGHT not apply to employers at all. So employers wait, and any move towards implementing the rules created by the CCPA could lead to a significant waste of time and resources for HR.

Currently, the CCPA language does cover HR data, but does not specifically mention employers or employee in the terms of what the statute covers. There is pending legislation which could add a definitive exclusion of HR data from what the act covers

For those not familiar with the CCPA, it’s intention is to provide consumers more control over their personal information, specifically how businesses will utilize information, the right to access personal information, the right to delete personal information, and the right to opt out of the sale of personal information. The second part of the CCPA is what concerns employers…that it facilitates the prosecution of class action lawsuits against any business which has a security breach of their stored information.

For California employers that fit the category mentioned above, keep an eye on how this plays out. For more information on the California Consumer Privacy Act, click here.