Governor Brown just signed a whole bunch of bills into law, and some of these might have a pretty big impact on your business– even if it’s a small one.
New rules about Sexual Harassment Prevention Training will have major impact on many small businesses with employees.
- If you have 5 or more employees, they must receive sexual harassment prevention training. That is a huge leap from the old guideline, which mandated training for 50 or more employees!
- Also, the training needs to be given to all employees, not just supervisors. Supervisors are to get 2 hours of training, versus 1 hour for employees who do not have a supervisory role.
- And there are rules for how long a seasonal or temporary employee can go without this training (100 work hours), and for how long a regular employee can go without this training (6 months). Best to do it right after hiring, right?😁
Another new law also regulates that
- at least 1 woman be on the board of directors of any publicly held company by 2019;
- 2 women if the board is 5 people by 2021;
- 3 if 6 or more people are on the board by 2021.
- The fines for noncompliance are steep: $100K for the first violation, and $300K for subsequent violations.
There are even more changes– the redefinition of a “hostile workplace,” laws voiding non disclosure sections of harassment settlements, laws voiding sections of settlements that preclude employment opportunities, new laws for talent agencies regarding sexual harassment prevention, new prohibitions on trying to take advantage of new talent… Want to know about all these changes? Read this excellent article from Proskauer’s blog. Not sure if your company’s “doing it right”? Email us or make an appointment so we can make sure your company’s policies reflect all these new laws. We want to help your business stay compliant, to grow, to excel!
