Governor Brown Signs SB 1343 Expanding Sexual Harassment Training Obligations

On September 30, 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 1343 which will lower the number of employees required to trigger mandatory sexual harassment training.

Currently, any California employer with 50 or more employees is required to provide at least 2 hours of sexual harassment training to all supervisory employees within 6 months of assuming the supervisory position.  After an initial training, these employees are required to have updated sexual harassment training once every 2 years.

As a result of SB 1343, which takes effect on January 1, 2020, any California with 5 or more employees will be required to provide this mandatory sexual harassment training to all employees – including supervisory and non-supervisory employees, as well as temporary and seasonal employees.

In an attempt to lessen the burden on small business, SB 1343 requires the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) to produce and make available online sexual harassment training courses.  An employee who completes an online training course will receive a certificate which serves as evidence of completed training.  SB 1343 also requires the DFEH to provide fact sheets and posters regarding sexual harassment on its website https://www.dfeh.ca.gov.

You can read the full text of SB 1343 here.