On September 29, 2020, California Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1281 ("AB 1281") into law, which is good news for employers and those who engage in business-tobusiness ("B2B") transactions that fall within the scope of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 ("CCPA"). AB 1281 continues in effect employee and B2B exemptions of the CCPA until January 1, 2022. Prior to the extension provided by AB 1281, these exemptions were scheduled to become ineffective on January 1, 2021.

By way of background, commencing on January 1, 2020, the CCPA granted a consumer residing in California various rights with regard to personal information relating to that consumer that is held by a business. Among other things, the CCPA requires a business that collects personal information about a consumer: (i) to inform the consumer at or before the point of collection what personal information will be collected and the purposes for which it will be used (the "Right to Know"), (ii) to delete the consumer's personal information upon the consumer's request (the "Right to Deletion")(subject to certain exceptions such as the retention of the consumer's personal information if necessary for the business to detect security incidents, protect/defend against legal claims or various internal uses), and (iii) to disclose the consumer's right to direct the business not to "sell" the consumer's personal information (the "Right to Opt-out"), which is defined broadly to include all data sharing with third parties, when money or other valuable consideration is involved. Under the CCPA, employees and persons who engage in business transactions with you in their professional capacity are considered consumers.

Please see full Alert before for more information.