States Move to Regulate Workplace Tech as Automation, Monitoring Spread Across Sectors

With Congress largely absent from the debate, 2025 has become a “watershed moment” for state-level labor tech policy, according to an analysis by the UC Berkeley Labor Center. More than 350 bills now target harms ranging from automated firing to invasive surveillance and AI-driven deskilling of workers.

The fastest-moving legislative trend focuses on electronic monitoring and algorithmic management, which have spread widely in logistics, gig work, hospitality, grocery, healthcare, and call centers. Employers now routinely use AI to track productivity, assign shifts, evaluate performance, and, in some cases, fire workers automatically.

Amazon warehouse workers and Uber drivers are among the most visible examples, but unions report similar systems in hotels, gaming studios, public agencies, and fast-food chains, where “robo-firing,” biometric surveillance and predictive scheduling have increased workloads and reduced worker autonomy.

Bills introduced this year in California, Massachusetts and other states would require employers to give workers advance notice of algorithmic decision-making, guarantee the right to a human review of any employment decision, and prohibit the use of monitoring data for discipline when workers are off duty. None of those bills have yet become law, however. California’s No Robo Bosses Act was passed by the state legislature but vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Read more: Bipartisan Senate Bill Targets Minors’ Access to AI ‘Companions’

A second trend targets full or partial job automation in sectors where human labor has historically been mandatory for safety, care, or professional judgment. Bills now seek to block or limit AI replacement of teachers, nurses, mental health counselors, news writers, translators, court reporters, and commercial truck drivers.

Oregon and California already bar companies from advertising AI chatbots as licensed nurses, while Illinois prohibits replacing mental health workers and community-college faculty with AI systems. Nevada banned AI in school counseling. Long Beach, California now limits self-checkout kiosks in retail stores, reflecting fears that frontline retail jobs may be erased by automation.

Tech firms have responded to the trend with aggressive lobbying, pushing for federal pre-emption to block state rules and backing bills that authorize autonomous vehicles, automated translation, or AI-powered education tools with minimal labor protections. Worker advocates warn that absent strong regulation, employers will use AI to intensify work, suppress organizing, or deskill licensed professions.

According to the Berkeley report, however, the political landscape is shifting. Coalitions of labor unions, civil-society groups and professional associations are increasingly aligned around the position that essential human-centered work cannot be delegated to algorithms.

Dozens of states are currently pursuing “human-in-the-loop” mandates to preserve core job functions and professional discretion. Nurses, social workers, public-benefits caseworkers, and insurance claims personnel are among the job categories most frequently targeted. Several states have also copied California’s law, passed in 2024, barring insurers from using AI alone to deny medical benefits.