Discrimination
California Expands Employer Pay Data Reporting Under SB 464
Updated
Senate Bill 464, authored by Senator Smallwood-Cuevas, amends California’s employer pay data reporting law in Government Code section 12999. The law takes effect January 1, 2026, and adds a new data-storage requirement, expands the reporting job categories beginning January 1, 2027, and makes a civil penalty mandatory when the Civil Rights Department asks a court to impose one for a missed report.
Background
California law already requires a private employer with 100 or more employees to file an annual pay data report with the Civil Rights Department, which sits within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. The report covers the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex across specified job categories and federal pay bands, along with median and mean hourly rates and hours worked during the reporting year.
Under prior law, that report used 10 job categories. The reporting scheme in Government Code section 12999 was built out by earlier legislation, and SB 464 revises it in three ways rather than replacing the underlying framework.
What the Law Changes
First, SB 464 requires that any demographic information an employer or labor contractor gathers for the pay data report be collected and stored separately from employees’ personnel records. This separate-storage requirement applies to the covered employers and labor contractors already within the statute’s reach.
Second, beginning January 1, 2027, the number of job categories in the report increases from 10 to 23. The new categories track occupational groupings such as chief executives, management, computer and mathematical occupations, health care roles, and construction and extraction occupations, among others.
Third, the bill changes the penalty language from permissive to mandatory. Where prior law provided that a court may impose a civil penalty, SB 464 provides that, upon the department’s request, a court shall impose a penalty on an employer that fails to file the required report.
SB 464 requires demographic pay data to be stored separately from personnel records, expands the pay data report to 23 job categories beginning January 1, 2027, and directs courts to impose civil penalties on employers that fail to file when the Civil Rights Department so requests.
Penalties and Phase-In
The penalty amounts themselves are unchanged: up to $100 per employee for a failure to file and up to $200 per employee for a subsequent failure, payable to the Civil Rights Enforcement and Litigation Fund. A court may also apportion penalties to a labor contractor that failed to supply required pay data.
The separate-storage requirement and the mandatory-penalty language operate under the statute as amended. The move to 23 job categories is set by an added version of section 12999 that becomes operative on January 1, 2027, so the expanded categories take effect for reporting on that timeline while the reporting deadlines and 100-employee threshold remain in place.
What This Means for You
SB 464 affects private employers with 100 or more employees who file annual pay data reports with the Civil Rights Department. It requires demographic data to be stored apart from personnel records, expands the report to 23 job categories beginning in 2027, and makes filing penalties mandatory on the department’s request.
I write these summaries as general information about developments in California employment law. They are not legal advice and don’t create a mediator–client relationship. For guidance on a specific matter, consult a qualified attorney.