Sexual Harassment prevention training isn’t new to employers in California, but the number of employers and employees impacted by such training initiatives has grown. Shortly after New York passed legislation requiring that all employees receive annual sexual harassment prevention training, California set about expanding on the previous requirements set forth by AB1825.
Is Your Company Impacted by SB1343?
Previously, with AB1825, employers with at least 50 employees were required to train supervisors only. Now, with SB1343, if you have employees in California, you’re most likely impacted – and so are all your employees.
SB1343 requires any employer with at least five employees, including temporary and seasonal staff, to provide training to all supervisors and non-supervisors. This significantly increases the scope of those impacted. Whether you’re a tech startup in Silicon Valley, a small- to medium-sized chain founded in California, or a national retailer with presence in California, it’s likely you’ll need to re-evaluate your current anti-harassment training strategy to become compliant.
How Do You Maintain Compliance?
If you’re an employer with at least five employees, you must provide:
- One hour of Sexual Harassment Prevention Training to all non-supervisors
- Two hours of Sexual Harassment Prevention Training to all supervisors
All current employees must be trained by January 1, 2020, and once every two years thereafter.
All new hires, as well as promotions into supervisor positions, must be trained within six months and once every two years thereafter.
Seasonal and temporary employees must be trained within 30 calendar days after their hire date, or within 100 hours worked if they will be with the company less than six months.
How Else Does SB1343 Impact Your Company?
In addition to the number of employees impacted by SB1343, there’s additional consideration that should go into your strategy and rollout.
Have you budgeted for:
- Creating or licensing harassment prevention training?
- Deploying your program? (e.g. having a Learning Management System (LMS) to host eLearning, facilitators for instructor-led training, etc.)
- Training hours for all employees?
Are you prepared for the rollout?
- Your communication strategy
- Ensuring learner registration
- Tracking completion
- Accountability
Is Your Harassment Prevention Program Sustainable?
Since the number of employees impacted may have significantly expanded, you might reconsider your method of delivery. For example, retailers who previously used instructor-led training for supervisors only, may need to invest in a new solution, such as e-learning, to reach a larger audience.
ELearning offers many advantages over scheduled, instructor-led training, such as ensuring a consistent message, scalability, and flexibility around when the learners take the training.
The administrative piece will require a structured approach that ensures all current employees, as well as new hires and promotions, are put through training and re-certification every two years.
To ensure compliance with SB1343, you should start strategizing now to put training in place in 2019 and allocate ample time for rollout and completion. Try our California 2-Hour Manager Sexual Harassment Compliance Training for free for 7 days.
