Governor Newsom Signs SB 778 — New Harassment Training Deadline

As we blogged about previously here, since January 1, 2019 California law has required employers with 5 or more employees to provide at least 2 hours of classroom or other interactive sexual harassment training to all supervisory employees and 1 hour of classroom or other interactive sexual harassment training to all non-supervisory employees in California.  The deadline for eligible employers to provide this required training was January 1, 2020.

However, on August 30, 2019, Governor Newsom signed SB 778 which changed the deadline for these sexual harassment trainings to January 1, 2021.  SB 778 requires follow-up trainings every two years thereafter.  In addition, under SB 778, new non-supervisory employees must receive their training within 6 months of their hire and supervisory employees must receive their training within 6 months of the assumption of a supervisory position.

Employers should review their Employee Handbooks or other HR policy manuals to ensure that they are compliant with California’s strict sexual harassment training requirements.

You can review the text of SB 778 here.