August 19, 2009

2009 Likely Deadline to Complete Sexual Harassment Prevention Training

 

The California Chamber of Commerce is reminding employers with 50 or more employees that the mandatory supervisor sexual harassment training that must occur every two years may be due. The deadline for many companies probably falls at the end of this calendar year, given that the original requirement went into effect in 2005.

 

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

Training Must be Interactive

 

California law also requires that the training must 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.

 

Businesses that do not complete the training are subject to a corrective order from the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing as well as increased exposure to harassment claims, lawsuits and liability.

Training and Tracking Compliance

Specifically, if a company started training supervisors and managers in 2005, they must have updated that training in 2007. This also means that 2009 is time for another update. Employers can choose either of the following methods or a combination of the two methods to track compliance.

 

Individual Tracking: An employer may track its training requirement for each supervisory employee, measured two years from the date of completion of the last training of the individual supervisor. For example, a supervisor trained February 15, 2007 must be trained by February 14, 2009.

 

Training Year Tracking: An employer may designate a "training year" in which it trains some or all of its supervisory employees and thereafter must again retrain these supervisors by the end of the next "training year," two years later. For example, a supervisor trained February 15, 2007 must be trained by the end of 2009.

 

If newly hired or promoted supervisors receive training within six months of assuming their supervisory positions and that training falls in a different training year, the employer may include them in the next group training year, even if that occurs sooner than two years. An employer shall not extend the training year for the new supervisors beyond the initial two-year training year.

 

For example, with the training year method, assume that an employer trained all of its supervisors in 2007 and sets 2009 as the next training year. If a new supervisor is trained in 2008 and the employer wants to include the new supervisor in its training year, the new supervisor would need to be trained in 2009 with the employer's other supervisors.

The CalChamber recommends that employers:

• Ensure all training, including name of provider and dates of training, are maintained for all supervisors.
• Provide mandatory sexual harassment training, such as CalBizCentral's online, interactive 2-Hour California Harassment Prevention Training, every two years based on the tracking method(s) the company chooses.
• Give all employees a copy of the employer’s anti-harassment policy and a sexual harassment information sheet at least once a year but always upon hire.

 

More Information

CalChamber offers an affordable, well-produced online training system that satisfies the training requirement. More information on the course, Harassment Prevention Training for Supervisors, is available at http://www.calbizcentral.com/training.

 

Where Can You Get More Information? Check out the Compliance Section of the Chamber Store. The Chamber is where you can get the HR Handbook for California and the California Labor Digest at the LOWEST price! Napa Chamber members are able to receive all of their required products at greatly reduced rates. Contact Lynn Page at (707) 254-1145 or click here to visit our online Chamber Store.

 

Reprinted with permission from the California Chamber of Commerce.

 

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