California sexual harassment training compliance under SB 1343
California has the most prescriptive training mandate in the country. Every employer with 5 or more employees must provide separate, classroom-style or interactive training to supervisors and non-supervisory employees, and the documentation requirements are scrutinized in litigation.
Coverage scope
All supervisors and all non-supervisory employees who work in California, full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal.
Duration & frequency
- Duration
- Two (2) hours for supervisors. One (1) hour for non-supervisory employees.
- Frequency
- Once every two (2) years.
- New hires
- Within six (6) months of hire or promotion to a supervisory role.
Every compliant program must include
Miss any one of these elements and your training fails the California standard, even if every other detail is perfect.
Definition of unlawful sexual harassment under FEHA and Title VII
Federal and state statutory provisions addressing harassment, including remedies
Prevention strategies and supervisor obligations to correct harassing behavior
Practical examples illustrating harassment, discrimination, and retaliation
Abusive conduct (Government Code §12950.1(g)(2)): training on workplace bullying
Harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation
Bystander intervention (recommended; required for some related programs)
Recordkeeping
Employers must retain training records (sign-in sheets, copies of materials, certificates of completion, and webinar Q&A records) for a minimum of two (2) years.
Penalties & enforcement
Failure to comply does not trigger a fixed civil penalty, but non-compliance can be offered as evidence in a FEHA harassment claim and undermines an employer's prevention showing. The Civil Rights Department (CRD) may also issue an order to comply.
California Civil Rights Department (CRD), formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH).
Fourteen or fewer employees?
You sit below the fifteen-employee threshold where the federal laws begin, which is where most small employers stop reading. California does not use that line, so this training requirement reaches you anyway. We run a program scoped for exactly that position.
We map your roster to every mandate that applies.
California is one of 11 jurisdictions in our compliance matrix. If your employees work across state lines, the mandates stack: different durations, frequencies, and content per location. We handle that.
This page summarizes publicly available statutes and regulatory guidance, last reviewed July 2026. State and local mandates change frequently; verify current requirements with the enforcing agency or employment counsel before relying on this content for compliance decisions. empathiHR clients receive a written compliance matrix updated against their roster and locations.
Get a compliance matrix mapped to your roster.
California is one piece of the picture. We inventory every state and city your employees work in, deliver compliant training per location, and produce the documentation your counsel will need.