
Your Work, Your Data: A Toolkit for Exercising Worker Data Rights Under the California Consumer Privacy Act
Workers in the U.S. are virtually unprotected from companies’ increasing use of digital workforce management technologies. However, a landmark change for Californians came in 2023, when workers at large businesses in the state gained basic rights around their worker data under the California Consumer Privacy Act, a groundbreaking data privacy law.
The California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, is an important step towards establishing worker technology rights for the 21st century workplace. Companies across the U.S. are increasingly adopting new tools including electronic monitoring and algorithmic management to monitor, profile, and control workers. Companies use data-driven technologies in ways that can have significant effects on workers’ lives—like making decisions around hiring, promotion or discipline, reviewing workers’ performance, and managing productivity.
Now for the first time, under the CCPA, workers have the right to know when the businesses they work for are collecting data on them and for what purpose. Workers can access their data and request to correct or delete it. They can know if companies are profiling them or buying data about them (for instance, data on their social media activity). And they can opt out of businesses selling their data.
Because of its potential value for workers and worker advocates, we explain in this toolkit the process for workers to access their data. Information gained in a data access request can reveal or substantiate unfair workplace practices and can be used to initiate challenges.
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