5C human resources departments have begun to implement California’s Workplace Know Your Rights Act (SB 249) after it was passed Feb. 1. In alignment with the Act, 5C employees will receive notice of key workplace rights and have the opportunity to indicate emergency contacts, but student workers and college staff question if the Act will adequately support them.
Under the Act, all California employers must provide employees with a written “Know Your Rights” notice by Feb. 1 each year, which outlines protections such as workers’ compensation rights, immigration-protections, the right to engage in concerted activity and constitutional rights when interacting with law enforcement. New employees must receive the notice upon hiring.
By March 30, employers are also required to give employees the opportunity to designate an emergency contact to be notified if they are arrested or detained at work. Employees may choose to designate separate contacts for immigration-related detention and other emergencies.
At the 5Cs, the law has prompted email notices to students and employees — Pomona College sent its notice Feb. 16, Harvey Mudd College Feb. 23, Claremont McKenna College Feb. 24 and Scripps College Feb. 25. Pitzer College is yet to inform its workers, but Tricia Milford-Hoyt, vice president for communications and marketing at Pitzer said in an email to TSL that the college will send out notice in early March.
Despite the email outreach, several students said they were unaware of the new law or had not seen their email notification.
Jordan Becknell SC ’26, who works at the Pitzer Production Center, said she didn’t see the email because her inbox is constantly flooded with notifications from various college departments.
“I think an email is helpful, but only so helpful if it’s not one of 30 emails you get a day,” Becknell said. “I think there are flyers and physical things. That could be how that [information is] passed out. I think there could be priority messages.”
Although Becknell wishes the notification had been more apparent, she said she does not feel that immigration issues directly impact her at her job.
“I mean, I am a citizen, so I have a lot of protections in place,” she said.
Lu Lo PZ ’28, an international student, said she does not feel like immigration issues directly impact her in the workplace either.
“In an on-campus job, the [employment] processes are more simple,” she said. “I don’t face any immigration [issues].”
Although Lo doesn’t feel directly impacted by the threat of ICE coming onto campus, she said she supports SB 294 but questions how much it will actually affect the 5Cs.
“I think if we have this notification, it is great,” she said. “But I don’t think it’s very supportive [of students], because normally we don’t have this problem.”
In separate email statements to TSL, Pomona, Pitzer and Harvey Mudd, said they comply with the law and how employees can access pre-existing resources.
While these three colleges said they have not received employee concerns about Know Your Rights or immigration rights in the campus workplace, Becknell said she’s worried that the colleges will not do enough to protect emergency information or extend further assistance to students and staff.
“I am always worried about security and privacy,” she said. “I feel like you don’t always want to offer up an emergency contact to an employer if you feel like you’re in an unstable situation. I’d be curious to know more about how the 5Cs are making sure they’re protecting their students’ identities.”
Becknell said she would like to see the colleges collaborate with student interest groups and support mutual aid funds.
A Pomona spokesperson said in an email to TSL that the college has supported students and staff via compliance with the state’s Sending Alerts to Families in Education Act (SB98), which requires colleges to notify students and faculty if federal law enforcement is on campus. She said that additional student resources are available.
“The College also provides citizenship, residency and immigration-related resources, including legal resources and emergency funds and grants, and has made an immigration lawyer available for a Q&A session and individual consultations with faculty and staff,” the spokesperson wrote.
Dana Nagengast, assistant vice president of human resources at HMC, said in an email to TSL that employees can look at the resources posted on the college’s website.
The site contains a Know Your Rights notice and information about community-based immigration resources such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Immigrant Legal Resource Center or National Immigration Law Center.
“[Pitzer is] continuing to stay engaged with our community and will remain responsive to questions as they arise,” Tricia Milford-Hoyt, vice president of communications and marketing at Pitzer, said in an email.
Scripps declined to comment and CMC did not respond for comment.