California passes dozens of bills every year that affect restaurant operators. Most go unnoticed until an inspector, a lawsuit, or a labor agency shows up. SB 294 is one of the more significant ones for California restaurants in recent years — it adds a yearly employee notice and an emergency-contact duty, with real penalties for operators who miss them.
This post covers what SB 294 requires, how it interacts with your existing compliance obligations, and what a compliant California restaurant needs to have in place right now.
What Is SB 294 for Restaurants?
SB 294 is the Workplace Know Your Rights Act. It was signed in October 2025 and added Labor Code §§1550–1559. It applies to California employers, including restaurants, and it has four core requirements:
- A stand-alone written notice to every current employee by February 1, 2026, and every February 1 after that (§1553). You can deliver it the way you normally share employment information with staff, including in person, by email, or by text, as long as it can reasonably be expected to reach them within one business day.
- The same notice to every new hire at hire. If your staff has a union, its representative also gets the notice each year.
- An emergency-contact option (§1555). Existing employees had to get the chance to name an emergency contact by March 30, 2026. New hires get the chance at hire. If an employee asks, you must notify that contact when the employee is arrested or detained at the worksite. If it happens during work hours or job duties away from the worksite, you must notify the contact only if you actually know about it.
- Records for three years, including the date each notice was provided or sent.
The notice covers workers’ rights in five areas: workers’ compensation benefits (with Division of Workers’ Compensation contact information), notice of immigration agency inspections, protection against unfair immigration-related practices, the right to organize a union or act together at work, and constitutional rights when dealing with law enforcement at the workplace. It also lists new legal developments and enforcement agencies that the Labor Commissioner includes in its template.
You don’t have to write it yourself. The Labor Commissioner publishes a free template notice each year in multiple languages. Give it to each employee in the language you normally use with them if the template is available in that language; otherwise English is allowed.
SB 294 also bars retaliation against employees who use these rights. Penalties run up to $500 per employee for each violation, and emergency-contact violations can cost up to $500 per employee for each day, capped at $10,000 per employee (§1558).
If you’re already auditing what notices a California restaurant has to post, add SB 294 to the same review. Just remember it’s delivered to each person, not hung on the wall.
What California Restaurants Must Post in 2026
Even before SB 294, California had one of the most complex required-posting environments in the country. When people ask what notices does a California restaurant have to post, the answer involves multiple state agencies, plus local requirements that vary by county and license type.
Here’s the core list every California restaurant should have posted in 2026:
| Required Notice | Issuing Agency | Where It Must Be Posted |
|---|---|---|
| IWC Wage Order (Industry-specific) | DIR / IWC | Visible to all employees |
| Minimum Wage Notice | DIR / DLSE | Visible to all employees |
| DFEH Harassment & Discrimination Notice | CRD (formerly DFEH) | Visible to all employees |
| Workers’ Compensation Notice | DIR / DWC | Visible to all employees |
| Paid Sick Leave Notice | DIR / DLSE | Visible to all employees |
| Cal/OSHA Safety Postings | Cal/OSHA | Visible to all employees |
| Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (SB 553) | Cal/OSHA | Available to employees on request |
| Health Inspection Grade Card | County Health Department | Visible to customers near entrance |
| ABC RBS Notice | ABC | Visible near bar / point of service (if licensed) |
| Proposition 65 Warning | OEHHA | Visible to customers (if applicable) |
| SB 294 Know Your Rights Notice | DIR / DLSE (Labor Commissioner template) | Not a poster: given to each employee by Feb 1 each year and at hire |
That’s a long list — and it doesn’t include county-specific postings that may apply to your location, or industry-specific notices that depend on your license type.
The most common finding during compliance audits isn’t a major food safety violation. It’s a missing or outdated posting that the operator didn’t know was required.
SB 294 and the Broader Compliance Picture
SB 294 doesn’t exist in isolation. It sits alongside a set of other obligations that California restaurants are already supposed to have covered — and enforcement of all of them has increased.
FEHA Harassment Training
California requires employers with 5 or more employees to provide sexual harassment prevention training under FEHA. For restaurants, this means:
- Supervisors receive at least 2 hours of training every two years
- Non-supervisory employees receive at least 1 hour every two years
- New hires must be trained within 6 months of starting
This is a separate FEHA requirement, not part of SB 294. But the same complaint or audit that asks for your SB 294 records will often ask for your training records too.
RBS Certification Requirements
If your restaurant holds an ABC on-sale license, every alcohol server and their managers must hold a valid Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) certification. RBS certification California requirements have been in effect since July 1, 2022 — meaning certifications issued in 2022 are now reaching their three-year expiration.
RBS isn’t part of SB 294. It’s an ABC requirement with its own deadlines, and it belongs on the same compliance calendar.
Workplace Violence Prevention (SB 553)
California’s SB 553, which went into effect July 1, 2024, requires every California employer (including restaurants) to have a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan and to train all employees on it annually. This is a separate obligation from SB 294, but the two bills together mean California restaurants now have a significantly expanded set of documentation and disclosure requirements.
What SB 294 Actually Changes for Your Day-to-Day
In practical terms, here’s what SB 294 means for a typical California independent restaurant:
1. Get the current template
Download the Labor Commissioner’s SB 294 template notice for the current year, in the languages your team uses. The template is updated annually, so don’t reuse last year’s version.
2. Deliver the notice by February 1
Give every current employee a stand-alone copy by February 1 each year. “Stand-alone” means it can’t be buried in a handbook or onboarding packet. Hand it out, email it, or text it, using the channel you normally use for employment information.
3. Add it to onboarding, with the emergency-contact step
Every new hire gets the notice at hire and the chance to name an emergency contact. Let employees update their contact any time, and make sure managers know when the contact must be notified.
4. Keep proof for three years
Record the date each notice was provided or sent, and keep those records, along with each employee’s emergency-contact choice, for three years. If a labor agency investigates, these are the first things it will ask for. “We have it somewhere” is not an answer that prevents fines.
5. Know the penalties
An employer who violates SB 294 can face up to $500 per employee for each violation. Violations of the emergency-contact rule can cost up to $500 per employee for each day, capped at $10,000 per employee. The Labor Commissioner or a public prosecutor can enforce it, and a gap that touches your whole team multiplies quickly.
The Quickest Way to Close Your Gaps
Most California restaurant operators who do a serious compliance audit for the first time find the same things: at least two or three required notices missing or outdated, training records that are incomplete or stored nowhere accessible, and certifications (RBS, CFM, food handler) that haven’t been actively tracked.
The fix isn’t complicated — it just requires knowing what’s required. Here’s a fast-track checklist:
- Walk your premises today and photograph every posting currently on your walls
- Compare against the required list for your county and license type (the table above is a starting point)
- Replace any outdated notices — minimum wage, paid sick leave, and Cal/OSHA notices updated in 2024–2025
- Confirm your SB 294 notice went out to every employee by February 1, and that new hires get it at hire with the emergency-contact option
- Confirm your SB 553 Workplace Violence Prevention Plan is written and your team has been trained on it
- Pull your FEHA training records and verify every eligible employee is current
- Check RBS certifications for every alcohol-serving staff member, especially anyone hired in 2022–2023 whose three-year window may be closing
If you’re wondering what notices does a California restaurant have to post and you don’t have a clear, current answer, that’s the gap to close first.
How ComplianceKitchen Helps
ComplianceKitchen tracks your California restaurant required workplace notices, certification deadlines, and training records in one place — so you always know what’s current and what’s lapsing.
- Required notice tracking — updated automatically when California law changes, so you’re never posting an outdated notice
- RBS certification management — expiration alerts for every alcohol-serving employee, before the lapse triggers an ABC violation
- FEHA training records — log completion dates and renewal windows per employee, with reminders before the two-year deadline
- SB 553 WVPP tracking — document your plan and annual training log in one accessible place
- Audit-ready dashboard — everything a labor agency or health inspector might ask for, organized and exportable
SB 294 is one more yearly deadline added to an already complex set of requirements. The operators who handle it well aren’t the ones with the best lawyers — they’re the ones with the best systems.