SB 1343 for Sexual Harassment Training

California has some of the strictest sexual harassment prevention requirements for employees and supervisors in the USA. The golden state continues to battle sexual harassment in the workplace with the addition of Senate Bill (SB) 1343. The bill requires all companies with 5 or more employees to provide sexual harassment training to all employees and supervisors, with retraining every two years. Here is a detailed study on California’s anti-sexual harassment law SB 1343.

Training for Supervisors and Employees

Supervisory employees must receive two or more hours of in-person or online sexual harassment training in California, while employees need to take one hour. Supervisors need more hours of training because they have additional responsibilities concerning complaints and confidentiality of sexual harassment from employees. As a supervisor, you are obligated to immediately report harassment, discrimination, or retaliation once you have become aware of such behavior. Supervisors also need to be acutely aware of all vital information regarding anti-harassment policies and their role in anti-harassment procedures.

Temp Agency Requirements

SB 1343 also made an important change to sexual harassment prevention training for temporary or seasonal employees. Temp agencies, not employers, are now required to provide sexual harassment training to employees they send to clients on a temporary basis. The training must be provided to all temporary or seasonal employees within thirty days of the date the employees were hired or within 100 hours of time worked if the employee works for less than six months.

Training Benefits

One benefit of SB 1343 is that sexual harassment training for employees can now be broken down into smaller segments. Before, employees were pulled away from their work to attend a 2 hour session in one sitting. Now, supervisors and employees can break up sessions into, for example, thirty minute segments over multiple days. As long as they complete the training within one year, employees can take their time going over the required materials.

Another benefit is that employers can develop training programs, use an online training program from an authorized vendor, or hire an authorized trainer to teach classes. This allows employers to customize their sexual harassment training program to fit the needs of their employees and supervisors, as long as they comply with new and existing laws. These laws require that training include harassment gender (identity and expression), sexual orientation and abusive conduct. Materials must be interactive and  provide practical examples of each type of harassment.

If you want to know more details about the new California anti-sexual harassment law SB 1343, contact  Impact Compliance Training today for a free course trial.