On December 31, 2005, California’s newest sexual harassment law, AB1825, went into effect placing a requirement on businesses that employ fifty or more people. On this date your organization was required to have completed the first round of training. Arguably this is yet one more burden that has been placed on California businesses that may have an impact on driving them out of the state.
The new AB1825 regulation requires that the businesses provide a minimum of two hours or more of sexual harassment training to every supervisor every two years. Even more of a burden is that they are counting independent contractors and temporary employees as being employees of the organization. This may not sound like a tremendous burden but when you add all the other requirements on California based company’s it begins to add up quickly.
Any newly hired or promoted supervisor must receive this two hours worth of sexual harassment training within six months of being placed into the position. The type of training must be of high quality and it must be within a classroom environment or by some other means or method that will be interactive. In other words it can’t be something that is read or signed off on. This will require businesses to incur expenses to bring in trainers if they are not qualified to conduct the training themselves. Yes the law requires that the course be designed by someone with legal expertise.
The new law, AB1825, also requires that the sexual harassment training include practical guidance on the federal and state statutory laws. In addition, it must provide effective remedies on how to prevent or correct sexual harassment. The remedies must be communicated and available to the victims. Like most new laws the real meat of the law will come from legal suits played out in the courts. Similar to the ADA laws when they first came out. Initially so much was left to interpretation until a judge makes a ruling. Then everyone scrambles to make their adjustments to comply.
In addition to requiring sexual harassment training the new law, AB1825, requires it to offer good examples of pointed at providing supervisory personnel of ways to prevent retaliation and discrimination. The first time your organization has a claim made by a potential victim you will be placed under a high powered magnifying glass to review how your training program was conducted. Everyone is always perfect after the game has been played.
I would not want to be the first few companies that are tested under the new law, AB1825, since the courts will try to set the example early on. This always ends up benefiting the victim’s and hardly ever the defendant’s. This is the stage of any new law where organizations are tested to see if they met the intention of the law in the courts opinion. Courts tend to be very liberal when they interpret things siding with the victim’s.
There is no doubt that no one should be subjected to sexual harassment, discrimination, or retaliation; however, there are plenty of rules and laws already on the books to protect the victims. Why introduce yet another burden on companies to live up to creating a perfect work environment. Companies already know that they are to do everything in their power to prevent sexual harassment, especially knowing that if they don’t they could be hit with a hefty law suit. This even before the new law, AB1825, was enacted.
If you haven’t already done your research, make sure you do prior to entering into any contractual agreement with a training company to conduct your training. Of course, if you’re able to do the training in house with qualified personnel, this is a win-win for your organization. Make sure that every aspect of the new law, AB1825, is satisfied. And no matter what your feelings are about the new law, you better take it seriously. Research it thoroughly.
Want to find out more about the new Sexual Harassment Law AB1825, then visit Gregory Covey’s site to see how the new Sexual Harassment Law AB1825 will effect your organization, along with some personal opinions from Greg on how he feels about the new law.
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