By: Robin E. Largent
Since 2005, California has required employers with 50 or more employees to conduct sexual harassment training of supervisors within 6 months of assuming a supervisory position and biennially thereafter. Last week, Governor Brown signedAB 2053into law, expanding the mandated content of this training to include training on prevention of “abusive conduct.” The statute defines “abusive conduct” as conduct of an employer or employee in the workplace, with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer’s legitimate business interests. The statute further provides that abusive conduct may include repeated infliction of verbal abuse, such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets, verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating, or the gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person’s work performance. However, “a single act shall not constitute abusive conduct, unless especially severe and egregious.”
The new law does not further specify the content of the training on prevention of abusive conduct, nor does it mandate that any specific amount of time be allotted to this topic within the 2-hour sexual harassment training. The new law takes effect January 1, 2015. Employers covered by California’s training requirement should review and revise their training materials to ensure that prevention of abusive conduct is covered.
To be clear, this new training requirement does not create a private right of action by an employee against the employer to seek damages for workplace bullying. It is a training requirement only. That said, if an employee is “bullied” because of a characteristic protected under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (e.g. race, gender, religion, disability, age), the employee could bring a claim for harassment or discrimination under that law. Additionally, even if bullying is not directed at an employee because of a protected characteristic, it is still possible for a bullied employee to pursue a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. For these reasons, employers (regardless of whether they are covered by the new training requirement) may wish to include language in their employee handbooks making it a violation of company policy for employees to engage in workplace bullying/abusive conduct toward other employees. Employers should also take workplace complaints of abusive conduct/bullying seriously by conducting prompt investigations and taking appropriate remedial action.
-Posted By Nicholas Gonzales
9/17/2014
