California employers will soon be required to update their employee training procedures once again with the newly-passed Senate Bill 1343 which requires both supervisory employees as well as non-supervisory employees to undergo comprehensive sexual harassment training every two years. The new mandate goes into effect January 1, 2020.

Californians aren't new to sexual harassment workplace training requirements. Since 2005, California Assembly Bill 1825 has mandated employers with 50 or more employees train and educate all supervisory employees on sexual harassment prevention. This requirement was further expanded in 2014 with Assembly Bill 2053, extending training programs to include prevention of all abusive workplace conduct. Then expanded once more, in 2017, with Senate Bill 396 (based upon the protections provided by the Fair Employment and Housing Act), to provide harassment training addressing gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. 

Brief History of Harassment Regulations

Under SB 1343:

1. By January 1, 2020, employers with at least five employees must provide: (1) at least two hours of sexual harassment prevention training to all supervisory employees; and (2) at least one hour of sexual harassment prevention training to all non-supervisory employees in California within six months of their assumption of either a supervisory or non-supervisory position. The training must be provided once every two years.
2. Employers must provide sexual harassment prevention training to temporary or seasonal employees within 30 calendar days after the hire date or within 100 hours worked if the employee will work for less than six months. In the case of a temporary employee employed by a temporary services employer (as defined by the California Labor Code) to perform services for clients, the training must be provided by the temporary services employer, not the client.
3. The anti-sexual harassment training may be conducted with other employees, as a group, or individually, and broken up into shorter time segments, as long as the two-hour requirement for supervisory employees and one-hour requirement for non-supervisory employees is reached.
4. Employers who provide the required trainings after January 1, 2019, are not required to comply with the January 1, 2020, deadline.
5. The California Department of Fair Employment & Housing must develop, obtain, and make available on its website the one-hour and two-hour anti-sexual harassment training courses for supervisory and non-supervisory employees. Employers may develop their own training platforms, as long as they comply with the law’s requirements.
6. The California Department of Fair Employment & Housing must make existing informational posters and fact sheets regarding sexual harassment prevention available to employers and to members of the public in English and other languages (as listed in the law) on the department’s website.

Employers with any concerns or questions about sexual harassment training programs are encouraged to contact Worklogic HR and speak with one of our consultants about ways to ensure compliance with the new laws in California. Worklogic HR has partnered with Free Sexual Harassment Training.com to provide every employer virtual training for free.