7/10/2006
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By Lynn D. Lieber, Esq.
On June 30, 2006, California's Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC) issued long-awaited revisions to the AB 1825 mandatory sexual harassment training regulations initially published on December 16, 2005.
The modified regulations approve e-learning as an "effective interactive" form of training that complies with the law, as long as certain requirements are met. Web-based training has often been touted as a superior method of training. This is especially true for large organizations, where it is literally impossible to deliver comprehensive training with uniform content in a classroom setting. Many of the new requirements of the proposed regulations highlight how e-learning is the best - and possibly the only -- method through which many employers will be able to fully comply with the law.
In my nearly two decades of experience as an employment lawyer, I cannot count the times I have been asked to defend an organization in which a supervisor has been accused of harassment and there is no proof of the supervisor ever having attended an in-person harassment prevention class. Supervisors can show up for the beginning of an in-person session, sign in and get called away or have to leave. How can you prove with absolute certainty two years from now every supervisor in your organization attended a full two hours of training?
E-learning can meet all of AB 1825's requirements AND prove attendance.
Two Hours of Training: The modified regulations require that supervisors spend a full two hours in sexual harassment prevention training. Workplace Answers' tracking ensures this requirement is met. Web-based training electronically records the exact amount of time supervisors spend in the course, when they started, when they finished and when they agreed to abide by and accept their employer's no-harassment policy.
Interactivity: Is this requirement fulfilled by having a supervisor passively sit and listen to a classroom lecture and participate in some hypotheticals? Not as much as having to answer, one-on-one, numerous thought-provoking questions in order to complete the training. Supervisors find the material much more engaging when they are required to interact with it directly.
Documentation: It is impossible for an organization conducting classroom harassment prevention education for tens of thousands of employees to accurately document which supervisor attended each in-person training seminar and who presented it. It's even more difficult to maintain each supervisor's written acceptance of an employer's policy.
Question & Answer Platform: Web-based training can provide a safe and confidential arena for the asking and answering of supervisors' questions. Q&A portions of in-person sessions are too often hijacked by one attendee's irrelevant or overly personal questions that detract from class time and do not apply to most people in the room. With an efficient electronic interface, supervisors who want more information can get it quickly and easily.
Biannual Retraining: The modified regulations require that each supervisor be retrained no more than two years after initial training. In-person programs can have supervisors completing training at all different times of the year, thereby creating a huge administrative burden for human resources personnel who must try to determine which supervisors need to be trained again and when. A Web-based training program can automatically send supervisors retraining notices, with no burden on human resources, whatsoever.
Learn more about the benefits of web-based compliance training.