Authors: Jeremy Mittman and Erica Parks
In his final bill-signing period as governor, California Governor Edmund G. Brown signed into law numerous employment-related bills and vetoed others. One bill that passed significantly expands the scope of required sexual harassment training for employees in California.
Currently, the relevant provisions of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), sections 12950 and 12950.1 of the California Government Code, require employers with 50 or more employees to provide sexual harassment training for all supervisory employees. SB 1343 amends these provisions, instead requiring employers of five or more employees—including seasonal and temporary employees—to provide sexual harassment training for both supervisory and non-supervisory employees by January 1, 2020.
Under the new law, within six months of assuming their positions (and once every two years thereafter), all supervisors must receive at least two hours of training, and all non-supervisory employees must receive at least one hour of training.
In light of increasing legislation relating to sexual harassment-prevention and public awareness in the MeToo era, employers need to be vigilant in ensuring that all employees receive mandatory harassment training. To that end, employers should review their training practices and employers that do not already have compliant training in place should take steps to implement training by January 1, 2020. Please contact MSK if you would like to discuss MSK’s training services.
