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Can AI Fire You in California? What SB 947 Says About Automated Firing and Discipline

California’s No Robo Bosses Act limits fully automated discipline and termination decisions, but does not ban all workplace AI.
From TheFinanceBase Team2 min to read
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AI may assist with workplace decisions in California, but the state’s new SB 947 bars employers from relying solely on an automated decision system to discipline or terminate a worker. It is a limit on fully automated decisions—not a ban on all workplace AI.

What California’s SB 947 does

California enacted Senate Bill 947, the No Robo Bosses Act of 2026, on September 30, 2026. The Governor’s signing announcement describes the rule as prohibiting employers from “only relying on AI” to make disciplinary or termination decisions.

That distinction matters: the summaries describe a restriction on an automated system making the decision by itself, not a prohibition on employers using AI tools at work. Senator Jerry McNerney, the bill’s author, said in his September 30 signing announcement that an automated decision system may assist when human oversight and verification are involved. He said, “No worker should ever be fired or disciplined by a robo boss.”

What the public summaries say about oversight and notice

McNerney’s office says employers must provide human oversight and verification when an automated decision system assists with a disciplinary or termination decision, and inform workers if one was used. The announcement does not establish the exact notice timing or required contents. The Governor’s summary confirms the limit on relying only on AI but does not spell out these implementation details.

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SB 947 is not the separate AI-displacement notice rule

The Governor’s announcement also discusses requirements concerning mass layoffs, relocations, or terminations caused by an AI system and lists SB 951, a separate bill on technological-displacement notice. Those notice rules should not be confused with SB 947’s restriction on automated discipline and termination decisions.

What remains unclear from the signing announcements

The public summaries do not provide the chaptered statutory text or establish the law’s exact definitions, covered employers and workers, exceptions, effective date, notice mechanics, or remedies. McNerney’s office lists the California Labor Commissioner, Attorney General, and local prosecutors as enforcement authorities, but its announcement does not settle what remedies are available or whether workers may bring private lawsuits. Those details should not be inferred from the act’s name.

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Why the issue is drawing attention

McNerney’s office cited a “recent estimate” of more than 550 so-called bossware products. The announcement does not identify the estimate’s original source or publication year, so the figure is best understood as a sponsor-reported estimate, not an independently verified count.

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