SB 1343 was signed into law by Governor Newsom on September 30, 2018 and made harassment training for all employees and management mandatory. SB 1343 requires all employers with five (5) or more employees to provide one (1) hour of harassment training to non-supervisory employees and two (2) hours of harassment training to all supervisory employees every two years. All new hires must receive training within 6 months of their date of hire or promotion and temporary or seasonal employees must receive harassment withing 30 days or 100 hours of their date of hire. Employers must be in compliance by January 1, 2021.

Why is harassment training necessary? It has been estimated that employers lose $22,500 per employee in lost productivity and employee turnover due to sexual harassment. We have been told that assuming the claim is settled out of court, the average harassment claim will usually run companies from $75,000 – $125,000 in settlements and legal costs.

Beside the cost of legal and settlement costs there are also many hidden costs that employers should take into account when it comes to harassment.

• Low morale
• Poor productivity
• Poor customer service
• Increased turnover
• Poor company reputation

All of these bullet points are items that employers try to avoid and could avoid if a zero tolerance for harassment was the company culture and truly lived.

We, The HR Firm, can provide State mandated harassment training to help bring you into compliance with AB 1343 and assist you in putting policies and procedures in place to assist you in having a zero tolerance for harassment in your workplace.

Contact us if you need more information.