California Requires Business to Implement Sexual Harassment Training

In 2004, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1825, mandating that all California employers with 50 or more employees must provide at least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory employees who are employed as of July 1, 2005, and to all new supervisory employees within six months of their assumption of a supervisory position. The law also requires that supervisory employees must receive supplemental training at least once every two years, following their initial training course.

This law has two important aspects of which employers should be aware. First of all, the definition of “supervisory employee” has a fairly broad definition in California labor and employment codes, and will apply to anyone who exercises a measure of independent judgment to:

Hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees;
Direct the work of other employees or adjust their grievances; or
Effectively recommend any of these actions.

This means that even employees who only make recommendations to managers about such matters must receive training if their recommendations are likely to be acted upon.

In addition, the definition of employee head count has been determined to mean 50 total employees regardless of residency. Therefore, if an employer only has 30 employees living in California, but employs 20 additional workers who reside outside of California – for instance, sales personnel, contractors, etc. – these employers would be subject to compliance with the provisions of this statute.

The law will be implemented in two phases. First, supervisors employed as of July 1, 2005 must receive two hours of training by January 1, 2006. If a supervisor is hired or promoted into a supervisory position after July 1, 2005, the training must be completed within six months of hire or promotion. Supervisors who have received training after January 1, 2003 need not be re-trained by January 1, 2006.

The second phase begins January 1, 2006. The law requires ongoing training for all supervisors within six months of becoming supervisors, and providing them with at least two hours of anti-harassment training every two years.

The training must include information and practical guidance regarding federal and state sexual harassment laws, including harassment prevention and correction, and remedies available to victims. The training must be "interactive," making it unlikely that video training would be sufficient without discussion, role-playing, and a question and answer session or other similar techniques led by a qualified trainer. Web-based training that includes interactive components provided by qualified organizations such as the California Chamber of Commerce will meet the law's requirements.

Meeting these requirements neither provides a defense to a sexual harassment claim nor does failure to do so establish liability for harassment under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. However, failure to do so may be looked upon by a court as grounds for punitive damages in a sexual harassment lawsuit. In any event, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing may order a non-compliant employer to provide the training.

What Should You Do?

Include plans to provide the required training in your 2005 training or meeting calendar and budget.
Locate a resource providing training that complies with the law. Our Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace seminar satisfies all requirements for training under California AB 1825.
Identify the jobs within your organization for which training will be provided, and keep that list up to date as organizational changes occur.
Create a tracking system that records each supervisor's training and alerts you when new training is due.
Update written policies and procedures and communicate this new requirement to senior management at all California locations
Contact us today for more details regarding our Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace program.