California Said a Bot Can't Fire You. Good.
SB 947, the No Robo Bosses Act, bars AI as the sole basis for discipline or termination. It's a small, right line.
California signed SB 947, the No Robo Bosses Act, on September 30, barring automated systems from being the sole basis for discipline or termination. It becomes operative July 1, 2027. It's a narrow law with a clear principle: a decision that ends someone's paycheck needs a human somewhere in the loop.
The law doesn't ban AI in HR. It bans the fully automated firing, the system that flags and acts with no person accountable. That's the right line, because the failure mode isn't the model being wrong occasionally, it's no one being answerable when it is.
Other states are moving too. Connecticut's comprehensive AI statute took effect October 1 with concrete employer obligations. The direction is consistent: as agents enter decisions about people, legislatures are drawing the human-accountability line first and figuring out the rest later.
If you build HR or workforce tools, design for the human-in-the-loop now, not when the law forces it. The principle is settling fast: automation can advise, it can't be the boss. Build accordingly and the compliance question answers itself.