SB 778: Clarifies harassment training requirements, extends compliance deadline

In 2018, former California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 1343, requiring California employers with five or more employees to provide sexual harassment training to all supervisory and nonsupervisory employees by Jan. 1, 2020. After SB 1343's passage, there were a number of logistical issues and concerns related to its implementation. On Aug. 30, 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 778 as urgent "clean-up" legislation, which went into effect immediately and extended the deadline for employers to provide training in compliance with the state's harassment training requirements from Jan. 1 2020 to Jan. 1, 2021. Another bill that was signed into law by Newsom on Oct. 10, 2019 -- SB 530 -- also extended the effective date for employers to begin providing compliant harassment training to seasonal, temporary, or other employees hired to work less than six months to Jan. 1, 2021.

This change in the law will allow employers more time to provide any required training to those employees not already trained -- especially nonsupervisory employees who are now required to receive at least one hour of harassment training every two years.

SB 778 also addressed concerns raised by employers who already provided compliant harassment training under SB 1343 for both supervisory and nonsupervisory employees in calendar year 2019 and would have had to re-train such employees. SB 778 clarifies that refresher training for employees trained in 2019 is not required again for another two years thereafter, avoiding employers having to provide compliant training twice in a single two-year period.

This change in law will also provide the Department of Fair Employment and Housing additional time to prepare and provide online harassment training for employers to use to comply with the requirements of SB 1343. In addition, the DFEH has initiated the process to update its regulations on harassment prevention training to incorporate the new one-hour nonsupervisory harassment training and has proposed new regulations intended to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021. The current DFEH regulations only reference the previous AB 1825 two-hour supervisory employee harassment training requirements that are not entirely applicable to nonsupervisory employees.

Employers should note that regardless of whether an employer provided harassment prevention training to employees in 2018, under the original AB 1825 training requirements, any new supervisory employees would still need to receive this training within six months of their date of hire if that timeline falls in calendar year 2019.

SB 778 amends Section 12950.1 of the Government Code.

Gage Dungy is a partner in the Sacramento office of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. Gage provides management-side representation and legal counsel to public agencies and non-profit institutions in all matters pertaining to labor and employment law throughout the State of California. Gage can be reached at gdungy@lcwlegal.com.

Savana Manglona is an associate in the Sacramento office of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. Savana provides advice and counsel to clients in a variety of matters pertaining to labor and employment law. Savana can be reached at smanglona@lcwlegal.com.