Civil Rights Department Reminds Employers to Ensure Staff Meet Bi-Annual Sexual Harassment Prevention Training Requirement

SACRAMENTO – The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) today reminded employers across California to ensure they and their employees are in compliance with the state’s bi-annual sexual harassment prevention training requirements. Under California law, employers with five or more employees must provide a minimum of one hour of training to nonsupervisory employees and two hours of training to supervisory employees every two years. With the end of the year approaching, many workers may be coming up against their employer’s internal training deadline.

“Sexual harassment is unacceptable and has no place on the job,” said CRD Director Kevin Kish. “At the California Civil Rights Department, we’re committed to protecting your rights. Each year, hundreds of thousands of Californians take sexual harassment prevention training through our office and hundreds file complaints with us. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, reach out to our office and consider filing a complaint. Together, we can help put a stop to unlawful discrimination and harassment against workers.”

California is committed to protecting all California workers from unlawful discrimination and sexual harassment. As part of the state’s efforts, sexual harassment prevention training is legally required and designed to educate or remind workers about what is — and is not — acceptable behavior in the workplace. Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination based on sex or gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. People of any gender can be the target of sexual harassment and unlawful sexual harassment does not have to be motivated by sexual desire. It can also involve harassment by a person of the same gender, regardless of either person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

CRD offers free online trainings that satisfy the state’s legal requirements for sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training. An updated version of the trainings for additional clarity, improved user experience, and new content is now available online in English. The trainings provide guidance on preventing and correcting illegal harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and abusive conduct in the workplace — using realistic scenarios to illustrate how these issues may manifest at work. Translations of the updated trainings are forthcoming. Prior versions of CRD’s sexual harassment prevention trainings remain valid for the purposes of meeting the state’s legally mandated training requirements and are available in Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual harassment, CRD may be able to assist you through its complaint process. General information about CRD’s complaint process and how to file a complaint is available here.

Additional information about California’s protections against sexual harassment is available here and here. Information about sexual harassment prevention training for employees is available here. Information for employers is available here. The trainings can be accessed for free online here.

The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) is the state agency charged with enforcing California’s civil rights laws. CRD’s mission is to protect the people of California from unlawful discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and state-funded programs and activities, and from hate violence and human trafficking. For more information, visit calcivilrights.ca.gov.

View Press Release (PDF) Civil Rights Department Reminds Employers to Ensure Staff Meet Bi-Annual Sexual Harassment Prevention Training Requirement