Governor Brown Signs AB 2053 Requiring Sexual Harassment Training to Include Material on Bullying

Earlier today, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 2053.  This new law requires that mandatory sexual harassment training now include information about “abusive conduct” in the workplace.  Abusive conduct is defined to include:

“Conduct of an employer or employee in the workplace, with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer’s legitimate business interests.  Abusive conduct may include repeated infliction of verbal abuse, such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets, verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating, or the gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person’s work performance.”

Now, California employers with 50 or more employees are required to make all supervisors attend at least 2 hours’ of sensitivity training every 2 years to prevent “abusive conduct” as well as sexual harassment.

You can find the full text of the new law here.