Existing law requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide at least 2 hours of prescribed training and education regarding sexual harassment, abusive conduct, and harassment based upon gender, to all supervisory employees within 6 months of their assumption of a supervisory position and once every 2 years.
This new law lowers the threshold so that an employer with 5 or more employees, including temporary or seasonal employees must provide at least 2 hours of sexual harassment training to all supervisory employees and at least one hour of sexual harassment training to all nonsupervisory employees by January 1, 2020, and once every 2 years thereafter.
Although most brokerages retain salespersons and broker associates as independent contractors, a brokerage employing 5 or more non-licensed assistants could be subject to these new requirements.
This law also requires the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to develop or obtain 1-hour and 2-hour online training courses and informational posters on the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace and to post them on the department’s Internet Web site.
Senate Bill 1343 is codified as Government Code §§ 12950 and 12950.1. Effective January 1, 2019. Compliance deadline is January 1, 2020.