How Can an Employer Comply With California’s Sexual Harassment Laws?

It used to be the law in California that if you were an employer who had 50 or more employees, you had to train your managers and supervisory personnel with two hours of sexual harassment training and repeat it every two years. As of January 1st, 2019, that requirement had changed and greatly expanded. Now, if you are an employer in the state of California and have more than five employees, you must train your supervisory and management personnel for two hours on sexual harassment, and that needs to be repeated every two years.

You also have to train every single non-supervisory employee with one hour of sexual harassment training, and that training has to be repeated every two years. According to the State of California Department of Justice, an employer must provide training that includes harassment based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. But you should be training people to not discriminate or harass anyone for any reason.

This training was to be completed by the end of 2019, and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing had stated that it will make training available on its website. But why is this important to people all over the country? It is important because what happens in California has a habit of migrating east. So if California says it is a good idea, it is probably a good idea in other states as well. Take sexual harassment training very seriously. If you are in California, make plans to get this training as soon as possible.

This article does not provide legal information. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.