New California Regulations on Workplace Anti-Harassment, Anti-Discrimination Policies - Effective April 1

Executive Summary

Overview:   New California regulations, effective April 1, 2016, declare that employers have an affirmative duty to create a workplace environment that is free from employment practices prohibited by the California Fair Employment and Housing Act and that employers have an affirmative duty to take reasonable steps to prevent and promptly correct discriminatory and harassing conduct.

Coverage:  All employers with employees working in California.
 
Effective Date: April 1, 2016

Action Required:  Distribute a compliant policy using one of the permitted methods discussed in this update and update employee handbooks as applicable. 

The Details

Among other requirements, the new regulations (2 CCR § 11023) provide that employers must have a written policy against unlawful harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in the workplace. In addition, the written policy must clearly state that unlawful harassment, discrimination, and retaliation by supervisors, managers and coworkers, as well as by third-parties (e.g., vendors and customers), is prohibited.

Further, employers are required to establish a confidential complaint process and ensure investigations are conducted by qualified personnel in an impartial and timely manner.

Employers must provide employees with a copy of the written policy. If an employer’s workforce at any facility or establishment contains at least 10 percent of persons who speak a language other than English as their spoken language, then the policy must be translated into every language that is spoken by at least 10 percent of the workforce. Employees may be asked to acknowledge receipt of the policy.

Specifically the regulations state:

Dissemination of the policy shall include one or more of the following methods:

(1) Printing and providing a copy to all employees with an acknowledgment form for the employee to sign and return;

(2) Sending the policy via e-mail with an acknowledgment return form;

(3) Posting current versions of the policies on a company intranet with a tracking system ensuring all employees have read and acknowledged receipt of the policies;

(4) Discussing policies upon hire and/or during a new hire orientation session; and/or

(5) Any other way that ensures employees receive and understand the policies.

Next Steps

We recommend that clients distribute and that employees acknowledge receipt of the compliant policy as soon as possible.  This can be accomplished by the methods described above.   A sample policy titled "Anti-Harassment and Discrimination Policy” is available on FormSource in the California state appendix.  

This sample policy can also be used to update your employee handbook (if any).  Our Basic Employment Policies have also been updated to include a new compliant policy.

As always, please contact your Human Resources Business partner if you have questions.