If you run a California restaurant, you already know the state loves a new compliance requirement. SB 294 is one of the more consequential ones in recent years. It doesn’t add a poster. It adds a written notice you owe each employee every year, an emergency-contact duty, and records you must be able to produce on demand.
The good news: once you know exactly what’s required, it’s mostly a matter of getting organized. This SB 294 compliance checklist walks through every category, so you can go section by section and close your gaps before a labor agency does it for you.
Section 1: The SB 294 Notice and Emergency Contacts
These are the requirements SB 294 itself creates (Labor Code §§1550–1559):
- Annual notice: Give every current employee a stand-alone written notice of their rights by February 1 each year. Use the Labor Commissioner’s free template, updated annually.
- Delivery method: Use the way you normally share employment information. In-person delivery, email, and text all work if the notice can reasonably be expected to arrive within one business day.
- Language: Provide it in the language you normally use with the employee, if the template is available in that language. Otherwise, English is allowed.
- New hires: Give the notice to every new employee at hire.
- Union representative: If your staff has one, send them the notice each year by email or mail.
- Emergency contact: Give each employee the chance to name an emergency contact (existing staff by March 30, 2026, and new hires at hire), and let them update it any time. If an employee asks, notify that contact when the employee is arrested or detained at the worksite.
- Records: Keep records of compliance, including the date each notice was provided or sent, for three years.
Penalties run up to $500 per employee for each violation. Emergency-contact violations can cost up to $500 per employee for each day, capped at $10,000 per employee.
Section 2: Required Workplace Postings
SB 294’s notice isn’t a wall poster, but a posting audit belongs next to it. California restaurant required workplace notices for 2026 span multiple state agencies, and the list has grown significantly over the past three years.
Work through this list for your location:
| Notice | Agency | Updated for 2026? |
|---|---|---|
| IWC Wage Order (Industry 5 — Public Housekeeping) | DIR / IWC | Verify current version |
| Minimum Wage Notice | DIR / DLSE | Yes — update required for 2026 rate |
| Paid Sick Leave Notice | DIR / DLSE | Yes — updated for SB 616 (effective 2024) |
| DFEH / CRD Harassment & Discrimination Notice | CRD | Verify current version |
| Workers’ Compensation Notice (Form 7 or equivalent) | DIR / DWC | Verify current version |
| Cal/OSHA Safety & Health Protection on the Job | Cal/OSHA | Verify current version |
| Emergency Information Notice (Cal/OSHA) | Cal/OSHA | Verify current version |
| SB 553 Workplace Violence Prevention Notice | Cal/OSHA | Required since July 1, 2024 |
| SB 294 Know Your Rights Notice (not a poster) | DIR / DLSE | New for 2026 — give to each employee by Feb 1 and at hire (see Section 1) |
| Unemployment Insurance / SDI Notice (DE 1857A) | EDD | Verify current version |
| CFRA / Pregnancy Disability Leave Notice | CRD | Verify current version |
| Whistleblower Protections Notice | DOJ | Verify current version |
If you serve alcohol: Add the ABC RBS Notice and ensure it is posted visibly near your bar or point of alcohol service.
If Prop 65 applies to your operation: Confirm your warning is current and correctly placed for customer visibility.
One of the most common questions we hear is: what notices does a California restaurant have to post? The honest answer is “more than most operators realize” — and the list above is the starting point, not the ceiling. County-specific additions may apply depending on your jurisdiction.
Section 3: Employee Disclosure Requirements
Beyond physical postings, California law requires certain written disclosures at hire or when things change. These come from several laws, not SB 294 alone, and they go beyond handing someone an employee handbook — they require documented delivery of specific information.
At hire, every employee must receive:
- Written notice of rate of pay, pay day, and how wages are calculated (DLSE Notice to Employee, Labor Code §2810.5)
- Information about paid sick leave accrual and usage
- Workers’ compensation carrier information
- Notice of their right to a harassment-free workplace (FEHA)
- The SB 294 Know Your Rights notice and the chance to name an emergency contact
When the following change, employees must receive updated written notice within 7 days:
- Pay rate
- Pay schedule
- Employer name or address
- Workers’ compensation carrier
Most small restaurants do this informally or not at all. SB 294 adds its own record rule on top: keep proof of each notice, including the date it went out, for three years.
Section 4: Training Records
Two training programs have mandatory completion and recordkeeping requirements for California restaurants. Both need to be actively tracked — not just completed and forgotten.
FEHA Sexual Harassment Prevention Training
Required for any employer with 5 or more employees:
- Supervisors: 2 hours every 2 years
- Non-supervisory employees: 1 hour every 2 years
- New employees: trained within 6 months of hire
- New supervisors: trained within 6 months of promotion
You must keep records of who completed training and when. “Everyone did it” is not sufficient. You need names, dates, and proof of completion for every eligible employee.
SB 553 Workplace Violence Prevention Training
Required for all California employers since July 1, 2024:
- All employees must be trained when the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP) is first established
- Additional training when a new hazard is identified or the plan changes (training new hires before their first shift is a strong practice)
- Annual retraining required for all employees
- Records must be kept for at least one year
The training must cover your specific WVPP, how to report incidents, and what to do in an emergency. Generic online courses that don’t reference your plan may not satisfy the requirement.
Section 5: Certifications to Track
Two certification categories create ongoing tracking obligations — not just one-time tasks.
Food Safety Certifications
- Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM): At least one per food facility, valid for 5 years. Name and expiration must be on file.
- Food Handler Cards: Required for all food employees within 30 days of hire, valid for 3 years.
RBS Certification (Alcohol-Serving Establishments)
Every employee who serves or sells alcohol must hold a valid California RBS certification. This includes servers, bartenders, managers who work the floor, and part-time or seasonal staff. Certifications expire after 3 years — meaning anyone certified in 2022 or 2023 has a renewal coming up now. California restaurant labor law posters 2026 requirements now include the ABC RBS notice, and the certification requirement is actively enforced.
Section 6: Documentation to Have On Hand
When a labor agency or health inspector visits, these are the records they request most often. If you can’t produce them quickly, that delay itself raises flags.
- SB 294 notice records: the date each employee received this year’s notice and each new hire received it at hire, plus emergency-contact choices (keep 3 years)
- Completed Notice to Employee (DE 34 / Labor Code §2810.5) for every active employee
- FEHA training completion log (names, dates, provider)
- SB 553 WVPP document, signed by an authorized representative, with annual training log
- CFPM certificate on file, not just on the wall
- Food handler card copies for all food employees
- RBS certification copies for all alcohol-serving employees
- Last health inspection report (must be available on request)
- Temperature logs for the past 30+ days
The One Thing That Catches Most Operators Off Guard
It’s not the big items — most operators know about health inspections and food handler cards. What creates problems is the combination of smaller gaps: an outdated wage notice, a lapsed FEHA training cycle, a server whose RBS expires this month, and an SB 553 plan that was created but never trained on.
Individually, each one is a manageable issue. Together, they signal a pattern of non-compliance — and California labor enforcement looks for patterns.
The SB 294 compliance checklist framework above is designed to surface all of these before they surface for you. Walk through each section once, document what you find, and assign a fix and a due date for anything that’s missing.
California restaurant labor law posters 2026 requirements alone have changed enough since 2023 that a full notice audit is worth doing even if you think your walls are covered. The minimum wage notice, paid sick leave notice, and SB 553 notice have all been updated or added since then.
How ComplianceKitchen Keeps This Current
Running through this checklist manually works once. Keeping it current over time — across staff turnover, certification renewals, and annual regulatory updates — is where most restaurants fall behind.
ComplianceKitchen automates the ongoing tracking:
- Required notice library — updated automatically when California law changes, so your posting list is always current
- Certification tracking — expiration alerts for CFPM, food handler cards, and RBS certifications per employee
- Training records — log FEHA and SB 553 training completions with renewal reminders built in
- Audit-ready export — pull all your compliance documentation in one place, formatted for a labor agency or health inspector
The goal isn’t to pass an audit. It’s to run a restaurant where an audit is never a surprise.