Commentary Addressing Risks and Opportunities Through the Lifecycle of Data, Technology, Advertising and Innovation

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<img class="alignright wp-image-5575" src="https://dataprivacymonitor.bakerhostetlerblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2019/01/California-flag-and-capitol-iStock-528718612.jpg" alt="Sacramento California outside the capital building" width="390" height="260" />On March 25, Assembly Member Chau introduced <a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB25">Assembly Bill 25</a> (AB 25), which proposes to amend a section of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020. This amendment would expressly exclude employees from the definition of a “consumer” under the CCPA.

As currently drafted, the CCPA governs the personal information (PI) of “consumers,” who are broadly defined as California residents. This would, in effect, provide California employees (if their employer is a covered business under the CCPA) a broad range of European-like rights when it comes to their PI. These rights would include the right to request that their employer provide them with a transportable copy of their PI, delete their PI, and provide them with specific information about the collecting and sharing practices for their PI (subject to certain exceptions).

AB 25 proposes to amend the CCPA by creating a carve out to the definition of a consumer. AB 25 would clarify that the meaning of “consumer” under the CCPA does not include a “natural person whose personal information has been collected by a business in the course of a person acting as a job applicant or as an employee, contractor, or agent, on behalf of the business, to the extent their personal information is used for purposes compatible with the context of that person’s activities for the business as a job applicant, employee, contractor, or agent of the business.”

Additional California Bill, AB 25, Proposed to Further Amend the CCPA