Peter Law Group | California Employment Law
Date: January 6, 2026
Audience: In-house counsel, HR leaders, production executives, and business affairs teams

California enters 2026 with new employment-law requirements that intersect directly with how entertainment and media businesses hire, onboard, staff productions, manage union dynamics, and structure incentives for talent and key executives. Because the industry relies on a mix of long-term employees and project-based crews, compliance issues can arise quickly if templates and practices are not refreshed at the start of the year.

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By Arnold P. Peter, Managing Partner, Peter Law Group

If recent years were about expansion, 2026 will be about enforcement.

California has laid much of the statutory groundwork for a forward-thinking approach to employment law. The next phase is testing how those laws operate in real workplaces, with regulators and private litigants pressing employers to demonstrate that compliance is more than theoretical.

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California’s legislature and regulators have introduced numerous changes affecting employers in 2026. Business owners and HR professionals must update their policies to comply with new requirements on wages, workplace notices, leave entitlements, and more.

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