The Fair Employment and Housing Act (the FEHA) provides employees with legal protection from harassment, discrimination and retaliation. The Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) is the California agency that oversees and enforces the FEHA. As part of its oversight role, DFEH issues guidance to employers to assist in compliance with the FEHA requirements.
Hiring the Best While Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Public Sector Workforce
Over the last several years, virtually all levels of government have increasingly recognized the critical link between building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace and effectively meeting the needs of the communities they serve—in particular, historically underserved and marginalized communities.
At the federal level, the Biden Administration has issued several Executive Orders that recognize the
The Protected Trait – the Dividing Line between Hurtful and Unlawful Conduct
The term “hostile work environment” is used – or rather, misused – so often, that its meaning has become somewhat obscured. In an office full of fans of the local sports team, the sole fan of its archrival may say that being singled out as such creates a “hostile work environment.” Or, in a workplace
Sexual Harassment Training – Is Your Agency 2021 Ready?
With the new year approaching, now is a good time to audit your agency’s compliance with sexual harassment training requirements. Since 2005, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) has required employers to provide supervisory employees with training in preventing sexual harassment (sometimes called “AB 1825 harassment training”). Recently, the State Legislature has greatly
What’s in a Name? – The Karen Meme Question
If you consume social media, be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or the app of the moment TikTok, you have certainly come across “the Karen meme.” By and large, “the Karen meme” is an image depicting a middle-aged Caucasian woman, almost always sporting a spiky, short blonde haircut. “Karen” argues with and is condescending to service
Witnesses Move on, and Memories Fade – but an Investigation Report is Forever
Let’s set the scene. It’s February of 2020, and an employee comes to you, a supervisor, to “vent” about being the target of off-color comments and jokes due to the employee’s national origin. The employee does not use the term “harassment.” Moreover, the employee tells you that they are just talking it out, and they
2020 Vision: Setting our Sights on the Year Ahead
This may be hard to believe, but in three weeks, we will be living in the year 2020. I find this fact particularly surprising, as I often refer to events of the mid-90’s as incidents that occurred “a few years ago.”
Whether we acknowledge it or not, though, time marches on. Annually in California, employers
“OK, Boomer” – The Meme that May Mean Trouble
It is no secret that Generations Y and Z do not often see eye-to-eye with the Baby Boomer generation on a number of complex cultural, social, and political issues. Baby Boomers criticize Millennials (Generation Y, born between 1981 and 1996) and Gen Zers (Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2010) as “entitled” and “narcissistic.” In
A Brief Guide to Ensuring Compliance with Harassment Training Requirements: Where to Find Summaries of an Employer’s Training Obligations under SB 778 and SB 1343
In the past twelve months, Governors Jerry Brown and Gavin Newson have signed two bills into law affecting harassment training requirements for all employers in California with five or more employees. Below is a brief summary of these new laws as well as resources for employers to ensure compliance with harassment training requirements.
In October
The Legislature Introduces Clean-Up Bill SB 778 to Fix SB 1343 Harassment Training Requirements – What This Means for Your Agency
This Special Bulletin was authored by Gage C. Dungy.
NOTE: This update incorporates further amendments to SB 778 and serves to remind clients that these are only proposed fixes to the existing SB 1343 harassment prevention training requirements that are not yet law. SB 778 is subject to change again before becoming law. If