By Victoria Ungvary
BLOG OVERVIEW:
Senate Bill 464, currently awaiting signature by California Governor Gavin Newsom, would bring new requirements to employers required to file the California Pay Data Report. These changes include stricter penalties for employers who fail to submit the annual report, as well as more granular job categorizations.
More changes may be on the horizon for employers required to file the Pay Data Report in California. Senate Bill 464, currently before the Governor, would introduce changes to how employers must store demographic information and when civil penalties are imposed, as well as increase the number of job categories used from 10 to 23.
Changes for Employers in 2026
The amendments include a new requirement for employers and labor contractors to maintain demographic information collected pursuant to the regulation separately from employees’ personnel records. If the amendments are signed by the end of the year, this requirement would go into effect on January 1, 2026.
The second change would require the courts to impose civil penalties against any employer that does not submit the report if requested to do so by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD). Previously, the regulation authorized (but not required) the courts to impose penalties. The penalties are currently assessed at $100 per employee for employers who fail to file a required report, increasing to $200 per employee for subsequent failures to file. Penalties can also be assessed against a labor contractor that does not provide the required data to the client employer, and CRD can recover the costs of the enforcement action.
Changes for Employers in 2027
The more impactful change, which would require employers to use 23 job categories that effectively correlate with Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) groups instead of the 10 EEO-1 categories, could go into effect as soon as January 1, 2027. This change may be a result of uncertainty surrounding the continued use of EEO-1 categories at the federal level.
Employers should be prepared to remap their jobs to these new groupings if this bill is signed. While some of these groups can be directly mapped from EEO-1 categories, that is not the case for all groups.
Changes Not Included in the Final Bill
When first introduced in February 2025, these amendments proposed the addition of sexual orientation to the demographic information required for reporting. They also included a proposed requirement that CRD publish private employer pay data reports. Gender identity, disability and veteran status reporting were also included at one point during the various revisions, but were not included in the final version of the bill.
Takeaways for Employers
These amendments make it clear California has no intention of backing off any of the data collection they already have in place and are proactively making updates in light of anticipated federal changes under the Trump administration. This can also be seen in the updates to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, which now codifies the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP).
DCI will continue to monitor the status of SB 464, as well as all other state level legislation, regulations, and rule changes.