State Law Updates in California, Maine and New York

In state employment law updates, Maine passed a bill restricting an employer’s ability to surveil employees, New York has already amended its recently enacted Trapped at Work Act and the California legislature declined to adopt a law that would allow for private actions in wage payment suits.

• Maine. Joining Connecticut, Delaware and New York, Maine now requires employers to notify employees before the use of any surveillance; it also permits employees to decline a request by an employer to install data collection or transmission applications on the employee’s personal electronic devices for the purposes of employer surveillance. , also prohibits employers from engaging in surveillance in an employee’s home, on the employee’s personal property or in the employee’s personal vehicle, unless such surveillance is required or necessary for job duties. An employer must provide written notice at least once per calendar year to all current employees if it engages in surveillance and inform prospective employees during the interview process that surveillance is used. Violations are subject to a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $500, with enforcement by the state’s Department of Labor. The law, which applies to both private and public employers, will take effect in July.
• New York. After Gov. Kathy Hochul , the legislature has already amended the law and delayed the effective date. A584C banned all employers (including subsidiaries and contractors) from requiring reimbursement if a worker decides to leave employment before a defined period of time, with civil fines ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 for each violation. Amending the new law, narrowed the scope of covered individuals (from “worker” to “employee”) and addressed agreements requiring reimbursement for tuition and educational materials. Such agreements are permitted if they are set forth in a written contract that is offered separately from any contract for employment, specify the repayment amount before agreement (and the amount does not exceed the cost to the employer) and does not require repayment if the employee is terminated, among other conditions. In addition, the updated law is now set to take effect in December 2026 as opposed to taking immediate effect.
• California. Employers in the state dodged a bullet with the failure of , a measure which would have created a private right of action for employees to sue employers to recover penalties for untimely wage payments. Currently, employees can only recover specified penalties by filing a complaint with the Labor Commissioner, through an action filed by the Labor Commissioner against the employer or by a Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) action, which provides employees with 35 percent of the PAGA penalties recovered. Proponents argued the change was necessary to deal with the backlog of complaints pending with the Labor Commissioner and provide employees with a greater recovery than a PAGA award, but lawmakers elected to keep the status quo.

Why it matters: Maine’s new law may signal a trend in states enacting legislation limiting employer surveillance, while the adjustments in New York narrow the scope of the original law. Employers in California may not be facing the creation of a new private action to recover wages yet but should keep an eye on the legislature for other potential laws regulating wages.