Employment rights and obligations related to human resources data are about to get messy in California. On Jan. 1, 2023, California will become the first state to have a comprehensive data privacy law covering human resources data when the California Privacy Rights Act becomes operational. This change will leave both employees and employers confused regarding the interplay between the CPRA and employment laws because most of the rights under the CPRA either are already addressed or do not make sense in the employment context.

Fortunately, there is still time for the California Privacy Protection Agency to align employment and privacy rights in the CPRA regulations by: (1) defining “professional or employment-related information” to mean an employee’s personnel file; (2) clarifying that the right to correct is limited to rectifying personal information that can be verified; and (3) ensuring the CPRA’s deletion right does not contradict legal retention obligations under employment laws.

Click here to read the full article on the International Association of Privacy Professionals website.