Press Releases

Harassment Training Regulations Finally Approved: Most Employers Unaware of Demanding Requirements

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2007

Media Contact:
Rebecca Peterson, 415-962-3414
rpeterson@elt-inc.com
www.elt-inc.com

AB 1825 regulations are final

(PRWEB) July 19, 2007 -- Yesterday, July 18, 2007, The Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved final regulations for California's mandatory harassment training law, AB 1825, after nearly two years of revisions. Employers, many of whom are unaware of the new rules, have 30 days to comply.

The AB 1825 regulations have created groundbreaking, stringent requirements for all forms of harassment training, especially e-learning. Because of the high standard set, the regulations are impacting employers not just in California, but across the country.

As part of the Special Advisory Committee to the Fair Employment & Housing Commission (FEHC), ELT helped to create the regulations.

AB1825 requires employers who do business in California, and who have more than 50 employees, to provide all supervisors with training on how to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. The first training deadline was December 31, 2005. Sexual harassment training must also be repeated every two years, making 2007 a "retrain" year for most organizations. With respect to the ongoing training obligation, newly hired or promoted supervisors must be trained within six months of the assumption of a supervisory position. Click for a detailed overview of the AB 1825 regulations.

"The purpose of the FEHC regulations is to provide clarity to employers on the specific requirements of the California sexual harassment training law, as well as practical guidelines for compliance," said Shanti Atkins, Esq., President & CEO of ELT. "The regulations have set a high bar for what constitutes effective training. Employers' programs now must align with the highly technical and demanding new rules. A 'check the box' approach to training will undoubtedly create liability, and many programs will be out of compliance."

The regulations become effective on August 17, 2007.

ELT provides online compliance training of unparalleled quality, with a special focus in harassment prevention and ethics & code of conduct. Featuring Littler Mendelson content, and exclusively endorsed by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), ELT's programs have been used by more than 2 million employees in leading organizations around the globe. View sample of ELT's AB 1825 compliant harassment training course.

For additional information, please contact Rebecca Peterson at rpeterson@elt-inc.com or 415-962-3414.