California Labor Code section 435 and Part 5.8 (recording and surveillance tools in restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms and bathrooms)
Law. Placed at California. Read 30 Sep 2026; 4 provisions cited by the planner.
What does Cal. Lab. Code 435, 1560-bathroom and 1560-leave-behind require?
An employer must not arrange, order or permit any audio or video capture of a worker who is inside a restroom, a locker room, or a room set aside for staff to change clothes, unless a court order allows it. Also cited: s 435(b), do not use a recording made in violation of the section for any purpose; s 1560, from 1 January 2027, do not use a workplace surveillance tool to monitor or surveil employees in a workplace bathroom without a court order.
Cal. Lab. Code s 435(a)Do not cause an audio or video recording of an employee in a restroom, locker room or changing room without a court order An employer must not arrange, order or permit any audio or video capture of a worker who is inside a restroom, a locker room, or a room set aside for staff to change clothes, unless a court order allows it. The ban is on causing the recording, so it reaches cameras and microphones installed by contractors, landlords or security vendors at the employer's request, and recording functions of access-control or monitoring systems that capture those rooms.
Cal. Lab. Code s 435(b)Do not use a recording made in violation of the section for any purpose Any recording that breaches the section is off limits to the employer for every purpose: not for discipline, not for investigations, not for litigation, not for security review. The section applies to private and public employers alike, except the federal government. The practical control is a rule that any footage or audio discovered to come from a protected room is quarantined and destroyed, not viewed or relied on.
Cal. Lab. Code s 1560From 1 January 2027, do not use a workplace surveillance tool to monitor or surveil employees in a workplace bathroom without a court order Unless a court order directs otherwise, an employer must not point any surveillance tool at workers inside a bathroom on the work premises. This widens section 435 from recording to every form of tool-based monitoring (geolocation, badges that log movement inside the room, wearables, time-tracking) and covers bathrooms whether or not they are also locker or changing rooms. One-time entry and exit checks of a bathroom from a surveillance tool remain allowed. Existing federal or state requirements to use a tool are preserved, and operations under federal statutes, regulations or binding contracts for aircraft development or national security, military, space or defence products are carved out to the extent the tool is reasonably necessary to comply.
Cal. Lab. Code s 1560Let employees leave surveillance tools behind when entering a bathroom, and limit any tool they must carry to one without audio, video or embedded AI Workers may set aside any surveillance tool they carry or wear before entering a bathroom at work, except where federal or state law requires them to stay reachable through meal and rest breaks. The employer is not in breach where an employee voluntarily brings a tool in, or where a policy requires a tool such as a badge or personal alarm to be carried for identification or safety or to open a locked or secured bathroom, provided the tool neither detects nor records audio or video and has no physically embedded or attached artificial intelligence. The duties take effect on 1 January 2027.