Sexual Harassment Prevention Training Requirement Postponed

At the request of the business community, the California State Legislature passed SB 778, which clarifies and delays the requirements in SB 1343, the sexual harassment prevention training law. As a result of this bill, and an added “urgency clause”, the law is effective immediately, Governor Newsom signed SB 778 into law on August 30, 2019.

As a result of SB 778, employers will have an additional year to get up to speed and comply with the training requirements of SB 1343.

What Does This Mean for You?

The new law does not change the basic components of SB 1343, only the time frame in which employers must comply. With the signing of SB 778, California employers with five or more employees will now be required to provide harassment prevention training by January 1, 2021.

The law still includes the following requirements:

• At least two hours of classroom or other “effective interactive training and education” regarding sexual harassment prevention to all supervisory employees; and
• At least one hour classroom or other “effective interactive training and education” regarding sexual harassment prevention to all nonsupervisory employees. 

After the initial sexual harassment prevention training is completed, a subject employer must provide sexual harassment prevention training to each employee in California once every two years.

Subject employers are required to provide training to nonsupervisory employees within six months of hire, and to new supervisory employees within six months of the promotion to a supervisory position.

Finally, SB 778 clarifies that a subject employer who provided the required sexual harassment training and prevention to an employee in 2019 is not required to provide refresher training and education again for such employee until two years thereafter.

Don’t Delay!

This is not a signal to delay training your employees, it’s still important to get this done as soon as possible. Infinium has the online and classroom training available free to its Payroll and HR clients, and at affordable rates for non-clients. Please contact us today at training@infiniumhr.com for more information.