THE BASICS OF GOVENMENT CODE SECTION 12950.1

• Applies only to organizations that regularly employ 50 or more employees or regularly "receive the services of" 50 or more persons. (This means independent contractors are included in the 50+ number.)
• By January 1, 2006, employers must provide two hours of sexual harassment training and education to all supervisory employees employed as of July 1, 2005.
• Employers that already provided such training to a supervisory employee in 2003 would be exempt from this initial requirement.
• After January 1, 2006, employers must provide sexual harassment training and education to each supervisory employee once every two years, and to each new supervisory employee within six months of their assumption of a supervisory position.
• The training must be of a high quality and conducted via "classroom or other effective interactive training" and include the following topics:
  • Information and practical guidance regarding federal and state statutory laws about sexual harassment.
  • Information about the correction of sexual harassment and the remedies available to victims of sexual harassment.
  • Practical examples aimed at instructing supervisors in the prevention of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.
• A claim that training did not take place does not automatically result in the liability of an employer for harassment. Plaintiffs will argue, however, that the failure to meet the new training mandates is partial evidence of an employer's failure to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment.
• An employer's compliance with AB 1825 also does not automatically protect it from liability for sexual harassment of any current or former employee or applicant.

Access to the full text of the bill: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/03-04/bill/asm/ab_1801-1850/ab_1825_bill_20040930_chaptered.html