December 31, 2020 Deadline for Mandatory Harassment Training in California for Non-Supervisory Employees

December 31, 2020 Deadline for Mandatory Harassment Training in California for Non-Supervisory Employees

In 2019, California postponed the deadline for employers to provide mandatory harassment training to non-supervisory employees working in the State until the end of 2020. This means that employers with five (5) or more employees were required to provide existing non-supervisory employees in California with training on or before December 31, 2020. And as of January 1, 2021, all employers with five (5) or more employees must provide new hires in California with the requisite training once every two years. (Please note that, for many years, California already required bi-yearly training for supervisors; the new law now extends the training requirement to non- supervisory employees.) Permanent employees (i.e., not seasonal or temporary hires) must be trained within six (6) months of hire and/or within six (6) months of promotion to a supervisory position. “Seasonal, temporary, or other employees that are hired to work for less than six months,” however, must be trained within 30 calendar days of hire date or 100 hours worked, whichever occurs first.

In the motion picture industry, work can be temporary in nature. So, employers in the industry with a temporary workforce should consider whether the shorter deadline applicable to temporary workers applies. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has issued FAQs about the training requirement, which can be reviewed here. The DFEH also has shared a free online version of the training available on demand on its website. The DFEH’s FAQs and its online training both provide that training time must be paid as work time.