CA Code § 11023: Harassment and Discrimination Prevention and Correction

Basic requirements for California Employers

CA Code § 11023 Harassment and Discrimination Prevention and Correction basic requirements for employers:

Employers have an affirmative duty to take reasonable steps to prevent and promptly correct discriminatory and harassing conduct.
In addition to distributing the Department of Fair Employment and Housing’s DFEH-185 brochure on sexual harassment, or an alternative writing that complies with Government Code section 12950, an employer shall develop a harassment, discrimination, and retaliation prevention policy.
The employer must disseminate the policy.
Any employer whose workforce at any facility or establishment contains 10 percent or more of persons who speak a language other than English as their spoken language shall translate the policy into every language that is spoken by at least 10 percent of the workforce.

The law reinforces some important issues:

The law creates a complaint process to ensure that complaints receive:
- An employer’s designation of confidentiality, to the extent possible;
- A timely response;
- Impartial and timely investigations by qualified personnel;
- Documentation and tracking for reasonable progress;
- Appropriate options for remedial actions and resolutions; and Timely closures.
- Instructs supervisors to report any complaints of misconduct to a designated company representative, such as a human resources manager, so the company can try to resolve the claim internally.
Employers with 50 or more employees are required to include this as a topic in mandated sexual harassment prevention training, pursuant to section 11024 of these regulations.
States that confidentiality will be kept by the employer to the extent possible, but not indicate that the investigation will be completely confidential.
Makes clear that employees shall not be exposed to retaliation as a result of lodging a complaint or participating in any workplace investigation.