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

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

Note: Please see our August 30, 2019 Special Bulletin, with information on Senate Bill 778 which now delays the implementation of the new harassment training requirements and any refresher training until calendar year 2020.  As urgency legislation, SB 778 went into effect immediately upon Governor Newsom’s approval of the law on August 30, 2019.

In the wake of recent attention to sexual harassment in the workplace, employers and members of the public are asking: what about all of those sexual harassment trainings we required?  Are they helping?  How do we know?  And, if they’re not achieving our goals (public policy and agency-specific), what can we do better?

Just What

This post was authored by Alysha Stein-Manes and Jenny Denny

On October 15, 2017 Governor Brown vetoed Senate Bill (SB) 169, a bill that would have codified into state law federal Title IX regulations and recently-repealed guidance on sexual assault and sexual violence issued by the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office for Civil Rights

The allegations of sexual harassment and assault levied against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein have been front page news for the last week.  The board of directors of his company swiftly voted to terminate his employment, but only time will tell what impact Mr. Weinstein’s transgressions (and alleged criminal activity) will have on his former company. 

This post was authored by Alysha Stein-Manes and Kaylee E. Feick.

Last November, we reported that Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill No. 2337 (“AB 2337”) into law.  AB 2337 amended Labor Code section 230.1 (“Section 230.1”) to require employers to provide written notice to employees regarding the rights of victims of domestic violence, sexual