AB 1825 Info Not Just for CA Employers

Record turnout at our recent AB 1825 webcasts has underscored the demand for clear and accurate information about AB 1825 and its accompanying regs. But these webcasts aren’t just for CA employers. In fact, more than 40% of the attendees at our last event (7/27/06) were not CA-based.

Federal laws and other state laws have pushed harassment training for many years.  (See my 7/26/06 post for a quick overview and primer.) AB 1825 (and its accompanying regs), however, is the first law to really scrutinize the quality, content and methodology of training. It is setting the standard for the rest of the country. Understanding its requirements is therefore critical for all employers, regardless of location.

To put this in practical context, consider the following example -- Imagine you’re located outside of CA, and your organization is the subject of a serious harassment lawsuit. You’ve done extensive training, and plan to use that training defensively. Ok – good. 

Now think about the other side’s strategy. Plaintiffs counsel will naturally be looking to attack your training – you are using it as a shield after all. What standards do you think he or she might use? California offers the only real standards available in the area, and frankly, they are common sense requirements that underscore any good training effort – particularly forced interactivity for e-learning. Now those CA regs don’t seem so irrelevant …

This is how AB 1825 and its regs may end up directly impacting you after all.

Now imagine you do have some operations in CA, but limited intensive training to the state. That’s a very problematic inconsistency issue for your harassment situation which occurred outside of CA– especially if you find yourself in front of a jury. Even if you did provide training in your other locations, but training that’s not as robust as the CA standard, the AB 1825 framework is going to come back to haunt you: 

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. This company doesn’t care about actually preventing sexual harassment. It cares about bare minimum compliance. While employees in California received two intensive hours of interactive training, your fellow [insert state] residents received a rudimentary primer that lasted only 30 minutes ….” 

Well, you get the idea.

This is why a single, national training program, consistent in content and design, is the best approach to harassment prevention education. And it’s why AB 1825 is pertinent for all you non-Californians.

So I hope to see you at our next Reyes / AB 1825 webcast! In response to enormous demand, we’ve added another event on Thursday, Sept 21 at 11 am. (Register for the AB 1825 webcast.)

Tags: AB 1825, AB 1825 & California Sexual Harassment Training, harassment training, sexual harassment, sexual harassment training,