California Mandates Addressing Abusive Conduct in Harassment Prevention Training

Author: Beth P. Zoller, XpertHR Legal Editor

September 17, 2014

California employers must cover abusive conduct in their supervisor harassment prevention training programs effective January 1, 2015, under a state law enacted last week. The new law defines abusive conduct as malicious workplace conduct that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive and unrelated to an employer's legitimate business interests.

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.

A single act may constitute abusive conduct if it is especially severe and egregious.

Under current California law, employers with 50 or more employees must provide supervisors with a minimum of two hours of training every two years covering compliance and legal information, including:

  • Federal and state laws on the prevention and correction of sexual harassment and the remedies available to employees;
  • Practical examples aimed at instructing supervisors in the prevention of harassment, discrimination and retaliation; and
  • Types of conduct that constitute sexual harassment.

Although Tennessee has enacted a law granting public employers who adopt policies against abusive workplace conduct with immunity from suit, there have been no other laws enacted on the state or federal level to specifically prohibit abusive conduct in the workplace when not tied to a protected class. This is true even though legislation to prohibit this conduct has been introduced in more than half the state legislatures in the form of the Healthy Workplace Bill. An employer may stay ahead of the curve by taking steps to minimize bullying or abusive conduct such as by:

  • Having multiple channels to report complaints; and
  • Engaging in effective employee discipline practices.