California Sexual Harassment Training Update

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January 29, 2019
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The Right Information at the Right Time
January 29, 2019
Federal Court Sentences Former Autoworkers’ Union Official After Guilty Plea for Health and Welfare Fund Embezzlement
January 31, 2019
Sexual harassment training

As we reported in October 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1343 modifying the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) sexual harassment training requirements. We previously covered the requirements on our blog.

Since that time, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has provided the following resources:

At the end of 2018, the DFEH released Sexual Harassment and Abusive Conduct Prevention Training Information for Employers answering frequently asked questions in anticipation of employer compliance inquiries, including these two that offer clarification:

Q. By what date must employees be trained? A. Both managerial and non-managerial employees must receive training by January 1, 2020. After January 1, 2020, employees must be retrained once every two years. That means that all employees statewide must be retrained by January 1, 2022.

Q. What if my employees were trained between January 1 and December 31, 2018? A. The law requires that employees be trained during calendar year 2019. Employees who were trained in 2018 or before will need to be retrained.

What does this all mean? Essentially, everyone needs to be trained, retrained, and then some. California lawmakers are clearly, emphatically, yelling on their tiptoes from the top of Mount Whitney about the importance of sexual harassment training and prevention in the workplace.

ThinkHR will continue to monitor and report on DFEH guidance regarding S.B. 1343.

ThinkHR Can Help

As states adopt their own unique rules for sexual harassment policies and training, it’s harder than ever to stay compliant with the patchwork of regulations. Reduce your risk with ThinkHR’s newest product enhancement, Risk Management: California Discrimination and Harassment and Risk Management: New York Discrimination and Harassment. (Log into your ThinkHR account before accessing these links.)

Both tools include quick links to state-specific handbook policies, access to compliant Spanish and English training programs for employees and managers, and other resources. Additional states will be added as necessary.

About Samantha Yurman, JD

Samantha Yurman is one of ThinkHR’s legal editors. She is a licensed attorney in California and Florida with over 16 years of experience researching and analyzing human resources legislation and law. Samantha uses her expertise to translate highly technical legal topics into usable information for our clients.

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