SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE

On September 30, 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law Assembly Bill 1825. The new law (Govt. Code 12950.1) requires all employers with 50 or more employees to provide at least two hours of sexual harassment training to all supervisory employees by no later than January 1, 2006.

The training must be in a classroom setting or by other "effective interactive" means. It must provide practical examples of harassment, and it must be presented by educators with "knowledge and expertise in the prevention of harassment, discrimination and retaliation."

Any employer who has provided training meeting these requirements since January 1, 2003 is not required to meet the January 1, 2006 deadline. However, after January 2006, employers must repeat the training at least once every two years. All supervisors employed as of July 1, 2005 must be trained.

There is no monetary penalty stated in the statute for not meeting these requirements but failure to provide training conforming to the statute could significantly harm an employer's ability to successfully defend harassment claims.

The experienced professionals of The Counseling Team International (TCTI) are available to provide cost effective and user-friendly training for your supervisors on site or in cooperation with other departments. The two-hour required training or a full day of how to deal with the "Hostile Workplace" training is available.

If TCTI can be of assistance to your company in complying with these new training requirements, please contact our Training Coordinator, Nicole Carlo at 909-884-0133 ext. 224 or cteamnicole@aol.com.

Class Description:
This class will define sexual harassment and discrimination and how they both compromise the employee's work environment. Scenarios and motivations for sexual harassment will be discussed as well as common "defenses" used to downplay the seriousness of the inappropriate conduct. The resulting symptoms of the victim will be addressed and solutions proposed to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn definitions of sexual harassment and discrimination
• Identify scenarios
• Understand motivations
• Recognize defenses
• Identify symptoms
• Explore myths vs. facts
• Enact solutions