California Statute AB 1825
Management Training Mandated
For the first time, California now mandates that employers with fifty (50) or more employees provide sexual harassment training to all supervisors. On September 29, 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a statute that requires sexual harassment training for supervisors, consisting of “at least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive training” from “trainers or educators with knowledge and expertise” in preventing harassment. The clock started running on January 1, 2005 for implementing the training: 1) any supervisors already employed as of January 1, 2005 must be trained no later than January 1, 2006, and 2) supervisors hired after January 1, 2005 must be trained within six months of their hire date. After January 1, 2006, employers must provide the two-hour training to all supervisors at least every two years.
The DFEH (Department of Fair Employment and Housing) does not pre-approve employers' compliance methods for AB 1825; and the DFEH reviews compliance by agency inspection and addresses any additional training needs at that time. As we discussed, Comply America's management training program was submitted to the California Department of Insurance for a determination on continuing education credit for insurance agents. The Department of Insurance determined that Comply America's management course qualified for 4 hours of CE credit (Calif. Dept. course ID no. 15798). The Department determined that 4 minutes per question was a reasonable time to properly review the material (including the vignette) and answer the question. This determination has been reinforced by the independent opinions of the Illinois, Texas and Georgia Departments of Insurance, all of which have determined that Comply America's management course qualified as at least 4 hours of CE credit (Georgia qualified it as 5 hours). The sexual harassment portion of our training program comprises 27 of the 55 course questions, and therefore should satisfy the 2-hour per 2-year requirement of AB 1825. If there is any doubt in this regard, the training course may simply be administered on a yearly basis.As we mentioned, Comply America can easily tailor its management course to the specifications of AB 1825 for all the California clients it services. Those modifications will include inserting a narrative at the management introduction or in the body of the sexual harassment policy section of the training program discussing, as AB 1825 requires, the "federal and state statutory provisions concerning ... sexual harassment and the remedies available to victims of sexual harassment in employment." An on-line approach to complying with AB 1825, particularly utilizing Comply America's program, appears to be the logical choice for Your clients for various reasons:
* The internal costs of delivering an on-line solution are a fraction of in-person training costs. In-person training includes: 1) HR professional travel and site expenses, 2) cost of non-productive time for HR professionals and managers to be trained; and 3) manager travel time and expenses.
* Comply America's on-line training is available to managers 24/7 - 365 even on their home computers.
* On-line training delivers a consistent message every time.
* Comply America's on-line training provides instant back-up documentation and the unique ability to present the actual
training course to a jury in the event of litigation.
* A consistent corporate policy may require training in all states, at a greatly expanded cost if in-person training is used.
* The in-person training will need to be repeated every 2 years.
* Comply America's on-line training can respond to changes in corporate policy with its ability to instantly load your company's modified policy into the training program.
* Comply America is perfectly compatible as a "snap on" to all corporate I-Learning platforms.
* The upfront costs in tailoring the program to your specifications will not only be a fraction of the costs of in-person training, but the costs are amortized over a number of years (perhaps 10 years or more assuming the sexual harassment laws do not change in any significant ways).
* Finally, Comply America's management course provides an added layer of protection -- reducing exposure to punitive damages awards under Kolstad by providing training on other forms of discrimination.