AB 2053, as introduced, Gonzalez. Employment discrimination or harassment: education and training: abusive conduct.

Existing law makes specified employment practices unlawful, including the harassment of an employee directly by the employer or indirectly by agents of the employer with the employer’s knowledge. Existing law further requires every employer to act to ensure a workplace free of sexual harassment by implementing certain minimum requirements, including posting sexual harassment information posters at the workplace and obtaining and making available an information sheet on sexual harassment.

Existing law also requires employers, as defined, with 50 or more employees to provide at least 2 hours of training and education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory employees, as specified. Existing law requires each employer to provide that training and education to each supervisory employee once every 2 years.

This bill would additionally require that the above-described training and education include, as a component of the training and education, prevention of abusive conduct, as defined. The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

Section 12950.1 of the Government Code is 2 amended to read:

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(a) begin deleteBy January 1, 2006, an end deletebegin insertAn end insertemployer having 50
4 or more employees shall provide at least two hours of classroom
5 or other effective interactive training and education regarding
6 sexual harassment to all supervisory employees in Californiabegin delete who
7 are employed as of July 1, 2005, and to all new supervisory
8 employeesend delete within six months of their assumption of a supervisory
9 position.begin delete Any employer who has provided this training and
10 education to a supervisory employee after January 1, 2003, is not
11 required to provide training and education by the January 1, 2006,
12 deadline. After January 1, 2006, eachend deletebegin insert Anend insert employer covered by this
13 section shall provide sexual harassment training and education to
14 each supervisory employee in California once every two years.
15 The training and education required by this section shall include
16 information and practical guidance regarding the federal and state
17 statutory provisions concerning the prohibition against and the
18 prevention and correction of sexual harassment and the remedies
19 available to victims of sexual harassment in employment. The
20 training and education shall also include practical examples aimed
21 at instructing supervisors in the prevention of harassment,
22 discrimination, and retaliation, and shall be presented by trainers
23 or educators with knowledge and expertise in the prevention of
24 harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.

begin insert

25 (b) An employer shall also include prevention of abusive conduct
26 as a component of the training and education specified in
27 subdivision (a).

end insertbegin delete

28( b)

end delete

29 begin insert(c)end insert The state shall incorporate the training required by
30 subdivision (a) into the 80 hours of training provided to all new
31 supervisory employees pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section
3219995.4, using existing resources.

begin delete

33( c) For purposes of this section only, “employer” means any
34 person regularly employing 50 or more persons or regularly
35 receiving the services of 50 or more persons providing services
36 pursuant to a contract, or any person acting as an agent of an
37 employer, directly or indirectly, the state, or any political or civil
38 subdivision of the state, and cities.

end delete

P3    1(d) Notwithstanding subdivisions (j) and (k) of Section 12940,
2 a claim that the training and education required by this section did
3 not reach a particular individual or individuals shall not in and of
4 itself result in the liability of any employer to any present or former
5 employee or applicant in any action alleging sexual harassment.
6 Conversely, an employer’s compliance with this section does not
7 insulate the employer from liability for sexual harassment of any
8 current or former employee or applicant.

9(e) If an employer violates this section, the department may
10 seek an order requiring the employer to comply with these
11 requirements.

12(f) The training and education required by this section is
13 intended to establish a minimum threshold and should not
14 discourage or relieve any employer from providing for longer,
15 more frequent, or more elaborate training and education regarding
16 workplace harassment or other forms of unlawful discrimination
17 in order to meet its obligations to take all reasonable steps
18 necessary to prevent and correct harassment and discrimination.

begin insert

19(g) (1) For purposes of this section only, “employer” means
20 any person regularly employing 50 or more persons or regularly
21 receiving the services of 50 or more persons providing services
22 pursuant to a contract, or any person acting as an agent of an
23 employer, directly or indirectly, the state, or any political or civil
24 subdivision of the state, and cities.

end insertbegin insert

25(2) For purposes of this section, “abusive conduct” means
26 conduct of an employer or employee in the workplace, with malice,
27 that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and
28 unrelated to an employer’s legitimate business interests. Abusive
29 conduct may include repeated infliction of verbal abuse, such as
30 the use of derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets, verbal or
31 physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening,
32 intimidating, or humiliating, or the gratuitous sabotage or
33 undermining of a person’s work performance. A single act shall
34 not constitute abusive conduct, unless especially severe and
35 egregious.

end insert