An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 7 - Recognizing And Preventing Harassment, Discrimination And Retaliation

Indeed, to satisfy several of these steps, the FEHA requires that employers take the following specific actions:  Post the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing’s (DFEH) poster regarding discrimination and harassment in a prominent and accessible location in the workplace; and Distribute a sexual harassment information sheet (or policy) to all employees in a reliable way, such as with the employees’ paychecks. You may obtain an information sheet from the DFEH (see Compendium) or the California Department of General Services, or you may draft your own information sheet (or policy) or include the information in your Employee Handbook. See Section 11 (A) below for more information on drafting your own school policy. LCW Practice Advisor

You may obtain one free copy of the poster and the information sheet from your local office of the DFEH or online at www.dfeh.ca.gov, or you may obtain multiple copies from the Office of Documents and Publications of the Department of General Services. Make sure you have the most recent version of the poster. Other reliable ways to distribute your sexual harassment information sheet or policy include: 1) distributing it as part of an orientation/employment packet to new hires; 2) re-issuing the information sheet to employees on a regular basis; 3) including the required data in your Employee Handbook; or 4) permanently posting the information sheet at all work sites in prominent and accessible locations. Employees should sign an acknowledgement that they received and read the policy. Schools should ensure that their policies expressly state that they apply to all forms of discriminatory harassment, not just sexual harassment.

LCW Practice Advisor

LCW Practice Advisor

For purposes of this mandatory training, the FEHA defines “supervisor” as: “any individual having the authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or the responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend that action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of that authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.” 1014 Because of this broad definition, “supervisors” are not limited to only those who are accountable or responsible for the work of their subordinates. 1015

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 245