It´s now old news that California passed a law requiring mandatory harassment compliance training for all supervisors and that the initial compliance period ended on January 1, 2006. Many employers ramped up year-end training with a mad dash to the compliance deadline. Since the statute only requires training every two years, those employers who trained supervisors in 2005 can now rest, right? Well not so fast says Jonathan Levy, CEO of Fair Measures Inc., a California legal training company.
According to Levy, while the harassment training statute (Section 12950.1 of the California Government Code) requires training every 2 years moving forward, there is an exception for new supervisors. All new supervisors must receive harassment compliance training within 6 months of becoming supervisors. In addition, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing clarified in its proposed regulations that the required trainings extend to supervisory employees who reside out of state who supervise California employees. Consequently, employers who only trained California supervisors may have fallen short of the mark if they have supervisors out of state who supervise California employees.
Employers need to look to a variety of solutions to meet full compliance. Levy says that although many employers are using computer based, instructorless e-training tools, there is a better solution. "Well conducted, live webinars beat e-training hands down", says Levy. "Webinars are the most effective solution next to live training. They contain the best of both worlds - live interactive training from the comfort of the office chair." Levy recently published a White Paper that explores live training versus e-learning solutions. No matter what solutions employer´s use, now that the initial compliance period has ended it is not time to rest. Employers need to develop a strategy for ongoing compliance that encompasses both new supervisors and out-of-state managers who manage California employees.
For more information about Fair Measures harassment compliance webinars please go to:
http://www.fairmeasures.com/training/web_based/default.asp
For more information about Fair Measures White Paper titled "Live Training v. E-Learning: Which is Best?" go to:
http://www.fairmeasures.com/ask/white_papers/default.asp
About Fair Measures, Inc.
Based in Santa Cruz, Cal., Fair Measures, Inc. is a leading provider of legal management training for managers and employees. For more information call 800-458-2778 or www.FairMeasures.com.
Source: HRmarketer.com