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[October 19, 2005]
A new online sexual harassment prevention training program will be available on Wednesday, October 19, to UC supervisors and faculty at all campuses, medical centers, the Office of the President, the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The program will be available to supervisors at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on or about October 24, and to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on October 28.
Provided by the UC Office of the President, the program helps UC to comply with a state law (AB 1825) that requires employers with 50 or more employees to offer supervisors at least two hours of mandatory training in sexual harassment prevention by January 1, 2006.
The online course – developed by UCOP with a vendor, Workplace Answers – can be accessed from any computer with Internet access. Workplace Answers will be sending UC supervisors and faculty an email announcement with a personalized link to direct them to the course.
Although UC and the campuses have established sexual harassment prevention policies and proactive education programs, the new law requires employers to take a more thorough approach in monitoring compliance. The new online program, thus, will record who has and has not been trained. The training module also addresses discrimination and retaliation issues, as required by AB 1825.
The three versions of the online course (administrative, academic and medical center) are fully interactive and customized to include UC work scenarios. Each program is made up of about 200 "pages" and will not certify a "trainee" until he or she has completed the entire course, which is designed to take at least two hours.
In addition to training those who supervise in UC administrative and academic units, all faculty members who supervise teaching or research assistants or other staff are subject to the mandatory training requirement. We are encouraging all faculty to participate in the training because they are likely to be involved in some supervisory activity.
Supervisors and faculty who have received sexual harassment training since 2003 – either in person or via previous online programs offered by their campuses need not participate in training again this calendar year. After January 1, 2006, however, the new law requires that every supervisory employee be trained in sexual harassment prevention once every two years. New supervisors must receive training within six months of assuming supervisory duties. The new UC training program is the only UC online training program that satisfies the requirements of the AB 1825. In-person training, as long as it is at least two hours, is still acceptable.
Persons with questions about training may contact the Title IX Officer or sexual harassment prevention education coordinator at their locations.