It’s been quiet on my blog for a long time. But SB 1343 (or SB1343), California’s new harassment prevention training law, is so important that I wanted to give my take on it.
SB 1343, effective January 1 of 2019, expands the scope of the state’s previous anti-harassment training requirements. Before 2019, only employers with 50 or more employees/contractors were required to provide anti-harassment training. And that was only to their California supervisors.
Now, under SB 1343, companies with 5 or more employees must provide sexual harassment training. And those businesses must provide training for all employees, not just supervisors. The anti-harassment training must take place by the end of 2019, then every two years after. The training for supervisors must be a minimum of two hours; for non-supervisors, at least one hour.
Currently, some uncertainty about SB1343 trainings exists. One reason is because unlike AB 1825, there are not yet regulations for SB 1343. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has provided some guidance (see the link in Resources). Additionally, many commentators are looking to the AB 1825 regulations to help guide their interpretation of SB 1343. In that case, companies will have several means of training their non-supervisors, just like under AB 1825.
The gold standard of training for harassment prevention is still in-person, on-site group training. (Here’s why.) However, on-site training is not practical for every company. In that case, instructor-led webinars and asynchronous online trainings may do the trick. Be aware that just like with AB 1825 training for supervisors, there will likely be strict limits to who is qualified to provide sexual harassment prevention training.
If you need a resource for in-person, on-site SB1343 training, as well as live, instructor-led SB 1343 webinars, please contact Shorago Training Services.
Recent Comments