I understand that there has been a clarification of the rules for sexual harassment training for supervisors. What’s new on that front? — Catherine, HR Specialist in Watsonville
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After almost a year, four revisions, and numerous public hearings, the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission has finally adopted regulations implementing California’s sexual harassment training law, A.B. 1825. The regulations will likely take effect this month, depending on how long the Office of Administrative Review takes to approve them.
In June 2006, the revisions were overhauled; here’s a look at the significant revisions since then:
1. Tracking. Employers now have two options for tracking compliance with the two-year training requirement. As the June draft specified, employers can use an individual tracking method in which you must train an individual supervisor two years from the completion date of that supervisor’s last training.
The recent revisions also allow a “training year” tracking method. This permits you to designate a training year in which you train all supervisors and then retrain them by the end of the next training year two years later. Newly hired or promoted supervisors who receive training within six months of assuming their supervisory positions—and whose training is not within the group training year—may be included in the next group training year, even if that occurs sooner than two years.
2. Duplicate training. Supervisors who have received A.B. 1825-compliant training within the past two years from another employer (current, prior, or joint) need only be given and required to read and acknowledge the employer’s written antiharassment policy within six months of assuming their new position with you. These supervisors must then be put on a two-year tracking schedule based on their last harassment training.
3. Supervisors. Only supervisors located in California must be trained. — CELA Editors