On February 27th, 2007, the Fair Employment and Housing Commission has just issued revised regulations regarding AB 1825 – California’s mandatory harassment training law. The revisions speak to the qualifications of those who conduct and develop training… your treasured SMEs.
How do these revisions impact your training program? Let’s look specifically at the qualifications required of your Subject Matter Expert (SME):
(8) “Subject Matter Experts” are:
(A) Attorneys admitted for three or more years to the bar of any state in the United States and whose practice includes employment law under the Fair Employment and Housing Act and/or Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, or
(B) Human resource professionals who are either certified as “Professionals in Human Resources” by the Society for Human Resource Management or have a higher certification, and who also possess a minimum of three or more years practical experience in one or more of the following: a) designing and conducting discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment prevention training; b) responding to sexual harassment complaints; c) conducting investigations of sexual harassment complaints; or d) advising employers regarding discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment prevention, or
(C) Professors and instructors in law schools, colleges or universities who have a postgraduate degree or California teaching credential and either 25 instruction hours or three or more years of experience in a law school, college or university teaching about employment law under the Fair Employment and Housing Act and/or Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the content specified below at section 7288.0, subdivision (a)(10)(D).
(D) Individuals with three or more years of experience providing professional advice or consultation to employers regarding discrimination, retaliation, and sexual harassment.
As you can see, the requirements are now very well defined. While it may be easy to say “My SME fits in category (D)” – pay close attention to the “regarding discrimination, retaliation, and sexual harassment” piece. Simply having a position as an employment consultant for three years may not cut it.
Taking the SME’s experience a step further, AB 1825 now defines a list of 8 specific topics that he or she must be qualified to teach. Those are:
1. what are unlawful harassment, discrimination and retaliation under both California and federal law;
2. what steps to take when harassing behavior occurs in the workplace;
3. how to report harassment complaints;
4. how to respond to a harassment complaint;
5. the employer’s obligation to conduct a workplace investigation of a harassment complaint;
6. what constitutes retaliation and how to prevent it;
7. essential components of an anti-harassment policy; and
8. the effect of harassment on harassed employees, co-workers, harassers and employers.
Does the SME behind your harassment training program meet this qualifications? If you’re not sure, now would be a good time to ask.
I would recommend requesting a detailed breakdown of how your training provider meets each of the requirements included in AB 1825. I have attached an example to this post for your reference – Navigating California AB 1825 Compliance.
