California AB-2495: What Workers Need to Know About the State’s New Immigration Retaliation Law
A new law is reshaping what employers can—and cannot—do when it comes to immigrant workers in California. Assembly Bill 2495, signed into law on September 29, 2026, closes long-standing gaps in worker protections and sends a clear message: retaliation against employees over their immigration status, whether real or perceived, will not be tolerated.
For workers who have faced threats, intimidation, or retaliation tied to their immigration status, this law offers something that was often missing before: a concrete legal remedy with real consequences for employers. Below, we break down what AB-2495 means, who it protects, and what to do if your rights have been violated.
What Is AB-2495?
AB-2495, also known as Chapter 748, amends California Labor Code Section 1019 to prohibit a broader range of “unfair immigration-related practices” by employers. At its core, the law bars employers from retaliating against, intimidating, or threatening workers for exercising any workplace right protected under local, state, or federal law.
What sets this law apart is its direct focus on immigration status as a tool of coercion. Lawmakers recognized that some employers were using a worker’s immigration status, or even their perceived immigration status, to silence complaints about unpaid wages, unsafe conditions, or harassment. AB-2495 shuts that door.
Why Was This Law Created?
Immigrant workers have long occupied a precarious position in California’s labor force. Many work in industries like agriculture, construction, hospitality, domestic work, and information technology, yet fear deportation or job loss has historically kept them from reporting workplace violations.
Legislators who championed AB-2495 pointed to a troubling pattern: employers threatened to report workers to immigration authorities, or hinted at such action, whenever workers raised concerns about wage theft, discrimination, or unsafe conditions. This dynamic allowed exploitation to flourish in the shadows, protected not by law, but by fear.
AB-2495 was designed to eliminate that leverage. By explicitly criminalizing immigration-related intimidation tactics, the law aims to level the playing field so that every worker, regardless of status, can report violations without fear of retribution.
Who Does It Protect?
The law casts a wide net. AB-2495 protects any employee who exercises a workplace right, whether that right stems from wage and hour laws, anti-discrimination statutes, workplace safety regulations, or other local, state, or federal protections.
Critically, the law does not require a worker to prove their actual immigration status to be protected. The statute covers “perceived” immigration status as well. In other words, an employer cannot escape liability by claiming they only targeted a worker because they believed, even incorrectly, that the worker lacked legal status. This provision matters because it removes a common loophole that employers might have otherwise exploited.
What Is Now Illegal for Employers to Do?
Under AB-2495, employers are barred from engaging in conduct that threatens, intimidates, or retaliates against a worker because that worker exercised a protected right. This includes actions such as:
- Threatening to report a worker’s immigration status to federal authorities.
- Disclosing or threatening to disclose a worker’s immigration status to law enforcement.
- Taking adverse employment action, such as termination, demotion, or reduced hours, in response to a worker filing a complaint or participating in a workplace investigation.
- Using immigration status, actual or perceived, as a means of discouraging a worker from asserting their legal rights.
These prohibitions apply regardless of whether the employer’s underlying claims about a worker’s status are accurate.
What Counts as an “Unfair Immigration-Related Practice”?
The law defines “unfair immigration-related practices” broadly, and that breadth is intentional. It covers any employer conduct that uses immigration status, or the threat of immigration enforcement, as a weapon against workers who have exercised, or intend to exercise, a legally protected right.
One of the most significant provisions in AB-2495 is the rebuttable presumption of retaliation. If an employer takes adverse action against a worker within 90 days of that worker exercising a protected right, the law presumes the action was retaliatory. The burden then shifts to the employer to prove otherwise.
This presumption matters enormously for workers pursuing a claim. Retaliation cases have historically been difficult to prove because employers can often point to a seemingly unrelated business reason for an adverse action. The 90-day presumption forces employers to justify their timing, rather than leaving workers to prove intent from scratch.
What Happens If an Employer Breaks the Law?
AB-2495 carries real financial and operational consequences for employers who violate it. Penalties include fines of up to $10,000 per violation. Beyond monetary penalties, the law also allows for suspension of an employer’s business license, a consequence severe enough to disrupt operations entirely.
These penalties signal that California lawmakers intend for this law to have teeth. For employers, the message is unambiguous: immigration status cannot be weaponized against employees, and doing so carries steep risk.
What Should You Do If Your Rights Are Being Violated?
If you believe an employer has threatened you, retaliated against you, or used your immigration status, real or assumed, to silence you, you do not have to face this alone. Document everything: dates, conversations, any written communication, and the names of witnesses. This record will be critical in establishing the timeline that triggers AB-2495’s retaliation presumption.
Workers facing this kind of intimidation often feel isolated, uncertain of their options, and afraid that speaking up will make their situation worse. That fear is understandable, but it should not stand between you and the protections the law now guarantees.
Helmer Friedman LLP has spent over 20 years advocating for workers facing retaliation, discrimination, and harassment in the workplace. Our team understands the courage it takes to come forward, and we are committed to providing confidential, personalized legal guidance to help you understand your rights under AB-2495 and pursue the resolution you deserve.
If you believe your rights have been violated, reach out today for a confidential consultation. You do not have to navigate this moment alone, and the law is now more firmly on your side than ever before.
