An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 7 - Recognizing And Preventing Harassment, Discrimination And Retaliation

Court of Appeal noted that the employer’s apparently unjustified refusal to provide certain medical treatment could support a claim for a violation of Section 132a. In one panel decision, the WCAB held that it was not a violation of Section 132a to insist that an employee submit a resignation as a condition for a compromise and release settlement of his workers’ compensation claim. The Board panel left open the question of whether insistence on a resignation as a condition for settlement by stipulation with request for award would be permissible. Please note this is a panel decision and may not be cited as precedent. P REVENTING H ARASSMENT , D ISCRIMINATION , A ND R ETALIATION It is unlawful for a school to fail to take all reasonable steps necessary to prevent discrimination and harassment. 1010 In addition to protecting current employees, this mandate also protects persons providing services pursuant to a contract. 1011 Both supervisors and non-supervisors may be personally liable for harassment. A school can lessen the likelihood of being liable for violating the anti-discrimination laws, if by the time the conduct occurred, the school had already taken reasonable steps to prevent discrimination and harassment from occurring, including: Section 9

 Requiring, for any school with 5 or more employees, by January 1, 2020, at least two hours of effective training for all supervisory employees on the prevention of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation every two years and at least one hour for nonsupervisory employees. This includes seasonal and temporary employees. Initial training must be completed within the first six months of employment; 1012  Affirmatively addressing the subject of harassment, discrimination and retaliation;  Expressing strong disapproval of such conduct;  Developing appropriate sanctions for violating the school’s anti-harassment and discrimination policy;  Informing employees of their right to raise and how to raise the issue of, harassment, discrimination and retaliation under California (FEHA) and federal (Title VII) law; and  Developing methods to sensitize all concerned. 1013  Schools also have the option under SB 1300 to provide bystander training for employees, though it is not required.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 244