California’s public and private employers are prohibited from voluntarily consenting to a federal immigration enforcement agent’s request to enter nonpublic areas in the workplace or to voluntarily allow the agent access to employee records unless the agent provides a judicial warrant. Labor Code 90.2(a)(1).

Employers also must provide notice to employees, called a Pre-Inspection Notice. Within 72 hours of receiving a federal immigration agency’s notice of inspection (“NOI”) of employment records, including I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms, an employer must provide notice to each of its current employees.

The posted notice must include: (1) the name of the immigration agency conducting the inspection; (2) the date the employer received notice of the inspection; (3) the nature of the inspection to the extent known; and (4) a copy of the NOI.

California has now released a template Notice of Inspection Form, which meets the requirements under Labor Code 90.2(a)(1).

For a full discussion of the new law, please see our prior blog, “California Shields Workers from Immigration Enforcement While On The Job”