New California Sexual Harassment Training Guidelines Released

New California Sexual Harassment Training Guidelines Released



Last year California passed legislation that requires employers with 50 or more employees to train their managers and supervisors on sexual harassment. Because some felt that the law was too broad and general, the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission has drafted more detailed guidelines to help California employers. “Commission provides definitive guidelines for sexual harassment training,” San Diego Daily Transcript as reported in www.yahoo.news (Aug. 15, 2006).

The guidelines, which may go into effect as soon as three months, include these points:

The trainer must possess a certain level of expertise – either a law degree or practical experience in prevention training and knowledge of California law;
Online training must be interactive so that a trainee can pose a question and receive an answer within two days;
All live training must be interactive presumably permitting questions and answers;
Employers must keep a training record for each individual supervisor; and
Employers must distribute their harassment policies and incorporate these policies into the training.

Commentary

The proposed guidelines eliminate from consideration any training where a trainee sits and watches a video without a trainer or person present to answer questions. It also eliminates any training where an employer simply reads from a training manual without any form of interaction.

Employers that utilize online training should make certain that the training allows trainees to ask questions and that the training records participation for each individual trainee. California employers should also make certain that employees acknowledge reading and understanding their sexual harassment policy just prior to taking any training and that they are provided the name of a person to ask questions about their policy.

Live training requires that employers do their homework to make certain that the trainer is qualified and that the materials can pass muster if questioned.