5 employees SB-1343: Why Counting Matters

 There are penalties for not providing the training mandated by the state, and in addition employers will always be concerned about the risks of a lawsuit.  Not counting correctly could cause an employer to mistake their obligation and miss out on an important and inexpensive preventative measure: sexual harassment prevention training, or SHPT.

For example, an owner who works in the business, or a family member who is not on payroll.  Would you know to count these in the five worker threshold?  Knowing how the State of California will count helps employers to know their responsibilities under SB-1343.

Full-time, Part-time, Temporary and Seasonal Workers, Volunteers, and Independent Contractors Count in the Five Worker Threshold

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH)’s regulations state that “employees” for the threshold determination purpose include full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal workers, unpaid interns and volunteers, and independent contractors (“1099” workers).

Employees Currently On Leave

There’s evidence that employees on leave count as part of the five as well.

Employers don’t need to train contractors, unpaid interns, volunteers, employees outside of California, and temps from temp agencies. 

While independent contractors, unpaid interns, volunteers, and employees outside of California count in the five worker threshold, they do NOT need to be trained to the California statutory requirements by California employers, or even trained at all.  And the law recognizes that temps supplied by a temporary staffing firm should be trained by that firm. 

Beyond the statute’s minimum requirements, however, lies common wisdom.  If these workers could harass or be harassed by California workers, providing training could give benefits beyond the legal requirements. 

California Required Training Solutions

California Required Training Solutions offers fast, simple online training to meet California’s new sexual harassment prevention training mandate. www.calreq.com features online courses that are available 24/7, self-paced, bookmarked, and timed.  Students can stop and start as many times as necessary without resetting the timer, and retest until they pass.  Upon finishing the course, students can download and print or email their certificate of completion.

Employers find California Required Training Solutions’ online shopping cart convenient and course licensing easy to manage after purchase.  Add the desired number of supervisor and non-supervisor courses to the cart, then check out with a credit card.  Immediately the purchaser receives emailed hyperlinks that can be distributed to each employee that must train.  The purchaser can see a real-time report on the site’s dashboard showing which link has been used by which employee.

At California Required Training Solutions, we get your folks compliant and back to work quickly, without breaking the bank.