The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing Updates Its Requirements Under S.B. 1343

SB 1343 requires that all employers of 5 or more employees provide 1 hour of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to non-managerial employees and 2 hours of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to managerial employees once every two years. Existing law requires the training to include harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation and to include practical examples of such harassment and to be provided by trainers or educators with knowledge and expertise in those areas. The bill also requires the Department ("DFEH") to produce and post both training courses to its website, which employers may utilize instead of hiring a trainer. An employer is required to train its California-based employees so long as it employs 5 or more employees anywhere, even if they do not work at the same location and even if not all of them work or reside in California. Under the DFEH’s regulations, the definition of “employee” for training purposes includes full-time, part-time, and temporary employees, unpaid interns, unpaid volunteers, and persons providing services pursuant to a contract (independent contractors).

UPDATES:

• SB 778 signed by Governor Newsom on 8/30/19 amended existing law to change deadline of harassment training until 1/1/2021.

• SB 530 signed by Governor Newsom on 10/10/19 amended existing law to change deadline to 1/1/2021 for seasonal and temporary worker harassment training compliance. Employers are required to provide training within 30 calendar days after the hire date or within 100 hours worked, whichever occurs first, beginning January 1, 2021. Employers are not required to train employees who work for fewer than 30 calendar days and fewer than 100 hours. In the case of a temporary employee employed by a temporary services employer, as defined in Section 201.3 of the Labor Code, to perform services for clients, the training shall be provided by the temporary services employer, not the client.