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California workers did not gain a statewide right to ignore after-hours work messages under AB 2751. The 2024 bill proposed that right, but the Assembly Appropriations Committee held it in committee on May 16, 2024, and it did not become law.
What AB 2751 proposed
Introduced by Assemblymember Matt Haney during the 2023–2024 legislative session and amended on March 21, 2024, AB 2751 proposed adding Section 1198.2 to the California Labor Code. It would have required public and private employers to establish workplace policies allowing employees to ignore employer communications during nonworking hours. The proposal’s details appear in the amended bill text.
The bill defined nonworking hours as time before or after an employee’s assigned hours, with those hours to be established in a written agreement between employer and employee. It did not propose a blanket ban on after-hours contact.
When employers could contact employees
AB 2751 proposed two exceptions to the right to ignore communications:
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- Scheduling: A schedule change made within 24 hours.
How complaints and penalties were proposed to work
The bill defined a “pattern of violation” as three or more documented instances. An employee could complain to the Labor Commissioner about such a pattern. The proposal specified a fine of not less than $100 and said a pattern would not be punished as a misdemeanor under Labor Code Section 1199. These were proposed terms of AB 2751, not fines or remedies created by an enacted law.
Employees covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement would have been excluded from the proposal.
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Why AB 2751 did not create a statewide right
On May 16, 2024, the Assembly Appropriations Committee’s unofficial results listed AB 2751 as “Hold in committee.” The committee agenda placed it among suspense-file measures. The Associated Press also reported that lawmakers shelved the proposal. A bill held in committee is not an enacted worker protection, so AB 2751 does not establish a current statewide entitlement to stop answering work messages after hours.
Keep the 2026 workplace-rights notice law separate
In a January 30, 2026 release, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office described annual notices required by the Workplace Know Your Rights Act. That is a separate development; the release does not say California enacted a general right to disconnect. Employers’ existing policies may differ, but AB 2751 itself did not make its proposed rules current legal duties.
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What to check in an employer policy
For a practical comparison with an employer’s existing policy, focus on the points the proposal addressed:
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- Which employees are covered, including whether a valid collective bargaining agreement applies.
- How the employee’s nonworking hours are recorded or agreed in writing.
- What qualifies as an emergency and what contact is permitted for schedule changes within 24 hours.
- How repeated after-hours contacts are documented and what complaint process is available.
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