California Requires Supervisor Sexual Harassment Training 11-10-2004
- By Rita Risser, attorney at law

On September 30, 2004, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 1825, requiring many California employers to provide supervisors with two hours of sexual harassment training every two years.

An "employer" is one that employs 50 or more persons, including temporary service employees and independent contractors. The 50 employees do not have to be within California; an employer with 50 total employees may be covered by the law, even if just a few workers are in California.

The training must include "information and practical guidance" about federal and state laws that prohibit sexual harassment, including prevention and correction of harassment, and remedies available to victims. The statute specifically requires the training to use "practical examples" aimed at preventing harassment. The training must be presented by "trainers or educators with knowledge and expertise in the prevention of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation."

The training must be in a classroom or an equally effective interactive environment. Because of the term "interactive," a video presentation alone without questions and answers and other interactive methods is not enough.

The law covers any employee with supervisory authority. The Fair Employment and Housing Act defines "supervisor" broadly to include "any individual having the authority ... to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or the responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend that action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of that authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment." Therefore, even employees who merely recommend the above personnel actions may be deemed "supervisors" who must receive training.

Supervisors employed as of July 1, 2005, must complete the initial two hours of training by January 1, 2006. Supervisors hired or promoted after July 1, 2005, must receive training within six months of hire or promotion, and every two years thereafter.

The penalty for failing to provide training is an order from the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to do the training. The law also says that providing training is not a defense to a sexual harassment claim. However, a supervisor's failure to receive training does not establish liability for harassment under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. Nevertheless, plaintiffs' lawyers likely will argue that the failure to comply with this law should be evidence in favor of an award of punitive damages, as it shows "reckless disregard" for the law.

What You Should Do: Contact Fair Measures to schedule our California Harassment Compliance Training which meets and exceed all these requirements. Email us or call 1-800-458-2778.

Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.