A 2018 California law expands existing sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training requirements for employers. Under the new law, employers with five or more employees must provide two hours of sexual harassment training to supervisors and one hour to all other employees within six months of their hire (or promotion to supervisor) and every two years thereafter.

The law’s five-employee threshold includes full-time employees as well as temporary and seasonal employees who “regularly” provide services in accordance with a contract, and those acting directly or indirectly as an “agent” of the employer.

Training for all existing employees must be provided by January 1, 2020. New employees must receive the training within six months of their hire (or promotion to supervisor). The training can be in person or online, and it must be interactive.

Employment Law Resources

There are several online resources available to help physician practices address the new harassment training requirements.

• California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (dfeh.ca.gov) – Note that the new law requires DFEH to make online training courses available. DFEH will make the trainings available in late 2019. In the interim, DFEH has published a sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention toolkit, which contains a sample training.
• California Chamber of Commerce (calchamber.com)
• California Employers Association (employers.org)

Employers may also use eligible trainers to provide the training. The California Medical Association (CMA) also maintains a list of “physician-friendly” attorneys who specialize in employment law, including those that provide sexual harassment training. If you’d like contact information for an attorney in your area, please contact CMA’s Legal Helpline at (800) 786-4262 or via email.