California Amends the CCPA to Protect Employers

We have previously noted that the California Consumer Privacy Act, by defining consumer information broadly enough to include information about employees, could subject California employers to conflicting demands on the maintenance of its employee information database: certain information is required to be kept by law, but the CCPA gives consumers the right to delete or shield the same information from being used.   

Industry groups have also been concerned that the private right of action for security breaches and other statutory claims could subject businesses to severe IT and operating mandates, and that employers that do not even trade in consumer information would become subject to the CCPA.  

Some of these concerns have been put to rest with recent amendments to the CCPA. The California Legislature removed personal and certain business contact information from the scope of CCPA coverage. The fix is temporary, however; the amendments and exclusions expire in one year, simply to allow the Legislature more time to come up with a more permanent solution.  

A summary of the legislative amendments can be found here: 

California CCPA recent amendments