Sexual Harassment Training Deadline Approaching

The California Chamber of Commerce is encouraging employers throughout the state to comply with California law requiring all organizations with 50 or more employees to put all managers through sexual harassment training every two years.

AB 1825, signed in 2004, requires California employers with 50 or more employees (including temporary service employees, independent contractors and employees outside the state) to provide newly hired or promoted supervisors with two hours of classroom or other interactive sexual harassment training within six months of assuming a supervisor position.

Therefore, all managers initially trained in 2005 must be retrained by December 31, 2007. Employers must provide training to all employees who have “supervisory authority,” which generally includes anyone who has independent authority to:

• hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline other employees; 
• direct the work of other employees; and/or 
• resolve employee conflicts.

Employees who make recommendations to managers about such matters also must receive training if their recommendations are likely to be acted upon.

According to the state regulations implementing AB 1825, the state of California or a political subdivision thereof (local agencies, counties, public school districts, etc.) also is an employer.

Employers subject to the training requirement are those with 50 or more employees, temporary workers or contractors for each working day in any 20 consecutive weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. The 50 individuals do not need to work at the same location or within California.

New Businesses
Businesses created after January 1, 2006 having more than 50 employees as defined above must provide sexual harassment supervisor training within six months of their establishment and every two years thereafter.

Businesses created before January 1, 2006 that expand beyond 50 employees must provide sexual harassment supervisor training within six months after they become eligible under these regulations and every two years thereafter.

Documentation
Businesses must maintain documentation of a supervisor’s training completion for a minimum of two years. The documentation must include the name of the supervisory employee trained, the date of the training and the name of the training provider.

The training must take the supervisor no less than two hours to complete. The training need not be for two consecutive hours; the minimum duration of a training segment is no less than one-half hour for classroom training or webinars. E-learning courses may include features allowing the supervisor to pause the training so long as the e-learning program cannot be completed in less than two hours.

Training Must Be Interactive
California law also requires that the training be “interactive.” This means that video training alone is likely insufficient without discussion, role-playing, a question-and-answer session, or other similar techniques led by a qualified trainer.

Employers using a webinar for training must document that each supervisor who was not physically present in the same room as the trainer actually attended the training and actively participated in it.
Businesses whose supervisors do not complete the training are subject to a corrective order from the Department of Fair Employment and Housing as well as increased exposure to harassment claims.

Easy Compliance Solution
CalBizCentral, the source for California business and human resource compliance products, presented by the CalChamber, is providing businesses with a fully compliant, cost-effective training program.

The self-paced, Web-based training course helps supervisors understand what sexual harassment is and how to practically and effectively avoid conduct that could lead to sexual harassment situations.

Developed by legal and HR training experts, “Preventing Harassment” covers both federal and California state sexual harassment laws, and contains interactive features to engage supervisors and verify their understanding of the material.

Employers often select online training for employees because it is the least intrusive on daily workloads and is much less expensive than classroom training. A supervisor can take the training on his or her own schedule and pace, as the online course can be paused when work demands attention and picked up where left off hours or even days later.

To purchase the “Preventing Harassment” materials, visit www.CalBizCentral.com/harassment.

Source: California Chamber of Commerce
November 5, 2007

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