Harassment & Discrimination Prevention Policy Requirements

Under California law 2 CCR §11023 (titled "Harassment and Discrimination Prevention and Correction"), employers must develop a written harassment, discrimination, and retaliation policy. It must:

• Be in writing.
• List all the groups (often called "protected categories") that the FEHA covers. (For example, state that this policy does not just cover gender, but also race, religion, nation of origin, and the like).
• Clearly describes harassment according to state and federal law (and how this extends to third-party contractors or other workers in the workplace).
• Have a complaint process that ensures as much confidentiality as possible, elicits a timely response after being filed, provides impartial investigation by qualified individuals, documents the investigation, and outlines remedial actions, and concludes in a timely manner.
• Offer employees a complaint filing process which does not require speaking to the immediate supervisor (in case he or she is the alleged harasser). This will be detailed later in this section.
• Require supervisors to report complaints to a specific company representative.
• Ensure employees that they will receive a fair, thorough, and timely investigation.

Additionally, a harassment prevention policy should clearly state that the company has a zero-tolerance policy regarding unprofessional behavior, and state that the company reserves the right to take action against employees for inappropriate behavior regardless of that behavior being legal or illegal.

A written sexual harassment prevention policy should also assure employees of their safety, confidentiality, and protection against any form of retaliation. Therefore, the written policy should do the following:

• State that employee confidentiality will be kept as much as possible (but also state that the company cannot guarantee confidentiality).
• Assure employees that the company will take action if the investigation determines harassment occurred.
• Clearly state that employees will not receive any sort of retaliation measures due to filing and complaint or being a part of a workplace investigation.
• Have clear instructions for how supervisors are to report any potentially unlawful conduct (including their own conduct).

To learn more about Sexual Harassment Prevention For Employees visit our Cal/OSHA Sexual Harassment Prevention For Employees Online Training web page.