California Code of Regulations › Title 2 - Administration › Division 4.1 - Civil Rights Department › Chapter 5 - Civil Rights Council › Subchapter 2 - Discrimination in Employment › Article 2 - Particular Employment Practices › Section 11024 - Required Training and Education Regarding Harassment Based on Sex, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sexual Orientation

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Definitions. For purposes of this
					 section, the following definitions apply:
(1)
					 "Contractor" is a person performing services pursuant to a contract with an
					 employer, meeting the criteria specified by Government Code section
					 12940(j)(5),
					 under the means described in section
					 11008(d).
(2) "Effective interactive training" includes
					 any of the following:
(A) "Classroom" training
					 is in-person, trainer-instruction, whose content is created by a trainer and
					 provided to an employee by a trainer, in a setting removed from the employee's
					 daily duties.
(B) "E-learning"
					 training is individualized, interactive, computer-based training created by a
					 trainer and an instructional designer. An e-learning training shall provide a
					 link or directions on how to contact a trainer who shall be available to answer
					 questions and to provide guidance and assistance about the training within a
					 reasonable period of time after the employee asks the question, but no more
					 than two business days after the question is asked. The trainer shall maintain
					 all written questions received, and all written responses or guidance provided,
					 for a period of two years after the date of the response.
(C) "Webinar" training is an internet-based
					 seminar whose content is created and taught by a trainer and transmitted over
					 the internet or intranet in real time. An employer utilizing a webinar for its
					 employees must document and demonstrate that each employee who was not
					 physically present in the same room as the trainer nonetheless attended the
					 entire training and actively participated with the training's interactive
					 content, discussion questions, hypothetical scenarios, polls, quizzes or tests,
					 and activities. The webinar must provide the employees an opportunity to ask
					 questions, to have them answered and otherwise to seek guidance and assistance.
					 For a period of two years after the date of the webinar, the employer shall
					 maintain a copy of the webinar, all written materials used by the trainer and
					 all written questions submitted during the webinar, and document all written
					 responses or guidance the trainer provided during the webinar.
(D) The Department's online training courses
					 on the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace.
(E) Other "effective interactive training"
					 and education includes the use of audio, video or computer technology in
					 conjunction with classroom, webinar and/or e-learning training. These, however,
					 are supplemental tools that cannot, by themselves, fulfill the requirements of
					 this subdivision.
(F) For any of
					 the above training methods, the instruction shall include questions that assess
					 learning, skill-building activities that assess the employee's application and
					 understanding of content learned, and numerous hypothetical scenarios about
					 harassment, each with one or more discussion questions so that employees remain
					 engaged in the training. Examples include pre- or post-training quizzes or
					 tests, small group discussion questions, discussion questions that accompany
					 hypothetical fact scenarios, use of brief scenarios discussed in small groups
					 or by the entire group, or any other learning activity geared towards ensuring
					 interactive participation as well as the ability to apply what is learned to
					 the employee's work environment.
(3) "Employee" includes full time, part time,
					 and temporary workers. In this section only, for purposes of determining
					 whether employers meet the coverage threshold of employing five or more
					 individuals, the term "employee" includes unpaid interns, unpaid volunteers,
					 and persons providing services pursuant to a contract.
(4) "Employer" means any of the following:
(A) any person engaged in any business or
					 enterprise in California, who employs 50 or more employees to perform services
					 for a wage or salary or contractors or any person acting as an agent of an
					 employer, directly or indirectly.
(B) the state of California, counties, and
					 any other political or civil subdivision of the state and cities, regardless of
					 the number of employees. For the purposes of this section, governmental and
					 quasi-governmental entities such as boards, commissions, local agencies and
					 special districts are considered "political subdivisions of the
					 state."
(5) "Harassment"
					 under this section refers to harassment on the bases of sex, gender identity,
					 gender expression, and sexual orientation.
(6) "Having 5 or more employees" means
					 employing or engaging 5 or more employees or contractors under the means
					 described in section
					 11008(d). There is
					 no requirement that the 5 employees or contractors work at the same location or
					 all work or reside in California.
(7) "Instructional Designer" under this
					 section is an individual with expertise in current instructional best
					 practices, and who develops the training content based upon material provided
					 by a trainer.
(8) "New" supervisory
					 employees are employees promoted or hired to a supervisory position after the
					 date the employer last provided sexual harassment prevention
					 training.
(9) "Supervisory
					 employees" or "supervisors" under this section are supervisors located in
					 California, defined under Government Code section
					 12926.
					 Attending training does not create an inference that an employee is a
					 supervisor or that a contractor is an employee or a supervisor.
(10) "Trainers" or "Trainers or educators"
					 qualified to provide training under this section are individuals who, through a
					 combination of training, experience, knowledge, and expertise, have the ability
					 to provide training about the following:
1)
					 the definitions of abusive conduct, sexual harassment as specified in
					 Government Code section
					 12940(j),
					 gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and the definitions of
					 the other bases enumerated in the FEHA as specified in Government Code section
					 12940(a);
2) how to identify behavior that may
					 constitute unlawful harassment, discrimination, and/or retaliation under both
					 California and federal law;
3) what
					 steps to take when harassing behavior occurs in the workplace;
4) how to report harassment
					 complaints;
5) supervisors'
					 obligation to report harassing, discriminatory, or retaliatory behavior of
					 which they become aware;
6) how to
					 respond to a harassment complaint;
7) the employer's obligation to conduct a
					 workplace investigation of a harassment complaint;
8) what constitutes retaliation and how to
					 prevent it;
9) essential components
					 of an anti-harassment policy;
10)
					 the effect of harassment on harassed employees, co-workers, harassers and
					 employers; and
11) practical
					 examples in the prevention of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation based
					 on sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and the
					 prevention of abusive conduct. Nothing in this section shall preclude an
					 employer from utilizing multiple trainers who, in combination, meet all of the
					 qualifications required by this subsection.
(A) A trainer also shall be one or more of
					 the following:
1. "Attorneys" admitted for two
					 or more years to the bar of any state in the United States and whose practice
					 includes employment law under the Fair Employment and Housing Act and/or Title
					 VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, or
2. "Human resource professionals,"
					 "harassment prevention consultants," or peer-to-peer trainers with a minimum of
					 two years of practical experience in one or more of the following:
a) designing or conducting discrimination,
					 retaliation and harassment prevention training;
b) responding to harassment complaints or
					 other discrimination complaints;
c)
					 conducting investigations of harassment complaints; or
d) advising employers or employees regarding
					 discrimination, retaliation and harassment prevention, or
3. "Professors or instructors" in law
					 schools, colleges or universities who have either 20 instruction hours or two
					 or more years of experience in a law school, college or university teaching
					 about employment law under the Fair Employment and Housing Act and/or Title VII
					 of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.
(B) Individuals who do not meet the
					 qualifications of a trainer as an attorney, human resource professional,
					 harassment prevention consultant, peer-to-peer trainer, professor or instructor
					 because they lack the requisite years of experience may team teach with a
					 trainer, in accordance with subsections (A)1. through (A)3., immediately above,
					 in classroom or webinar trainings provided that the trainer supervises these
					 individuals and the trainer is available throughout the training to answer
					 questions from training attendees.
(11) "Training," as used in this section, is
					 effective interactive training as defined at section
					 11024(a)(2).
(12) "Two hours" of training is two hours of
					 classroom training or two hours of webinar training or, in the case of an
					 e-learning training, a program that takes the supervisor no less than two hours
					 to complete.
(13) "One hour" of
					 training is one hour of classroom training or one hour of webinar training or,
					 in the case of an e-learning training, a program that takes the employee no
					 less than one hour to complete.