Episode 225 - Employers, Don’t Overlook Your Annual Workplace Violence Prevention Obligations

Welcome to the Workplace, a podcast by Cal Chamber. I'm Matthew Roberts, Associate General Counsel with the California Chamber of Commerce. Hello listeners. We are back again with a discussion on the general industry workplace violence standards in California. These standards, one of the most consequential new employment laws over the past couple of years, have imposed a large, complex set of rules on most non healthcare employers. As many recall, these standards took effect on July 1, 2024 and required, amongst other things, employers to have a workplace violence prevention plan that meets the standards and on which employers must train their employees. One of the more overlooked aspects of coming into compliance with these standards is that these standards place an ongoing obligation on employers to review the plan and and train employees annually on that plan. So, to discuss some important workplace violence prevention reminders and common questions we continue to receive today, we welcome Bianca Saad, Cal Chambers, General Counsel for Labor and Employment. I am so glad to have you here today, Bianca.

My pleasure, Matt. Always happy to be here.

So of course, it just feels like yesterday that businesses spent a significant amount of time working to come into compliance initially with the workplace violence prevention standards and that it might cause some heartburn today to know there's still more requirements annually. So as a threshold question, Bianca, what is the bare minimum employers need to do on an annual basis?

Yes, it really does feel like yesterday. But as you mentioned, there's still work to be done every year. So at a minimum, there are two things that employers need to do annually. First, the law requires employers to annually review their workplace violence prevention plan. And secondly, they need to train all of their employees annually on the contents of that plan.

Okay, so then when you say I need to annually review my plan, what does that actually mean to annually review a plan?

Great question. And the law really does just say the plan shall be reviewed at least annually. So what we know is that the plan does require us to have certain procedures within it that allow for reviewing the effectiveness of the plan. So some procedures that we commonly see include work site inspections for both the physical work site and the workflow operations to see if there are still existing or new hazards, providing the opportunity for employees and their representatives to be actively involved in this review. Now, some common ways to get that employee input can include things like email solicitation, surveys, safety meetings, and there may be other ways for various organizations to effectively allow everyone to participate in the plan. Another procedure is reviewing how mitigation efforts are working. For example, if you put in at place a strategy to reduce your work site's attractiveness to crime, are those Working. And have you seen a reduction in crime? Ultimately, as with the creation of the plan, the reviews will all be unique to each work site. So there is no one size fits all approach.

Okay. So sticking with the plan, this is a really good opportunity to take a look at common questions that are still confusing employers today. Now, first, when you say unique to each work site, as you did there at the end, does that mean if I'm an employer with multiple work sites, I have to have a different plan for each?

Yes. So the law expressly requires that plans are specific to the hazards and corrective measures for each work area and operation. And since there may be different hazards or mitigation measures available for each work site, and employees need to know what the hazards and prevention strategies there are for their specific work site, then we're really looking at an individualized plan for each individual work site.

Now, what if some of my workers are working like a field or a client site that's outside of my control?

Yes. So the law only exempts employees from the standards if those employees are working remotely at a work site of their choosing. So when employers direct employees to a field or client site, that doesn't fall within the exception. And that means employers need to include those workers in the plan. Now, of course, this can be difficult, so it will require some coordination with whomever controls the client site. But most importantly, these employees just need to know what sorts of hazards exist, what procedures are in place to help address those hazards, and how to respond to incidents and emergencies.

Okay, great. So we're going to look at our plan. We're going to review. Is there anything new we need to worry about in our plan? Are our existing mitigation strategies working, or do we need to revise those? And we've come to the conclusion that our annual plan review is done. So let's move then onto the training component, because that is still an ongoing concern for employers as well. Let's start with the basics. Are employers required to train employees on the plan annually, even if no changes are made after we do that annual review?

Yes. They are still going to need to train. So the law puts in place three training intervals. So when the plan was first established, and again, this should have taken place by July 1, 2024, then we also have to train annually. So even if you don't have changes, you're still going to be giving everybody a refresher of what your procedures are, all of the required components that we talked about for training, and then outside of the annual training, anytime changes are made let's say an incident happens, you recognize a hazard that wasn't previously identified, you make some changes to your plan based on any changes, then you're also going to need to train your employees as to those changes.

Okay then. So I know when I have to train my employees and of course we're going to have to do it this year at some point on our plan, regardless of changes are made. Is there any kind of specific requirements around the form that training has to take? For example, do we have to train everyone at the same time, all in person?

Yes. This is always a great question and unfortunately with some other aspects of this law, we don't have clear guidance. The law is silent regarding the specific format of the training. Most importantly though, is that however the training is done, it needs to meet certain requirements. So that includes providing content on the plan itself, how to obtain a copy of the plan at no cost, how to participate in the development and the implementation of the plan. The training must also include certain definitions and requirements of the law, how to report workplace violence incidents or concerns to the employer or law enforcement without fear of retaliation, workplace violence hazards that are specific to the employees jobs, the corrective measures the employer has implemented, how to seek assistance to prevent or respond to violence, and strategies to avoid physical harm. The trainee must also cover the workplace violence incident log that is required when a workplace violence incident occurs and also how employees will obtain things like the copies of the log, the records on hazard identification and mitigation, and training records. And lastly, and most importantly, employees must have the opportunity during the training for interactive questions and answers with a person who's knowledgeable about the employer's plan. So whether you're doing the training in live format with everybody all at once, or whether it's recorded in person on a webinar or in some computer based course, you want to make sure that your training has all the required components and that there's always that interactive Q and A component as well.

Yeah. And I really want to go back and highlight one of those pieces of the training materials that you really talked about, which is those workplace violence hazards specific to your employees jobs and the actual corrective measures that you're implementing to address those hazards. What that really highlights for me is that you can't just take an out of box training and just say we're training you on workplace violence. That's not what we're doing here. We're training you on what is our specific workplace violence plan. So I think it's excellent that we highlight these actual components no matter the form that your training takes. Now, Bianca, what do we do about new hires? So, for example, we know in the harassment prevention training field, we have six months to train our new hires, but is there a timeframe here that's similar to that?

Yeah. So, again, we don't have a lot of direct instruction in terms of the timing, but there are a couple of things that we can consider. So, first, we know that our workplace violence prevention plan can either be part of an existing injury and illness prevention program, or that's also referred to as the iipp. Or it can be a standalone document if it is part of the iipp. The IIPP rules say that the training must occur immediately upon hire. So if that's how we're including our plan, that's how we're going to train our employees. If the plan is standalone, though, we don't have a specific rule. But again, our job here is to take reasonable steps to prevent violence in the workplace. And so that includes a fully trained workforce. So, really, a best practice is going to be to do the training for your new employees as soon as possible.

All right. Well, Bianca, we've covered a lot here, especially around specific legal requirements to continue to do this stuff on an annual basis. So for those of you here in 2025, and you haven't started on your annual review and your annual training, of course, we need to get going on that. But while I have you, Bianca, is there anything else employers should be aware of as they work towards this 2025 compliance requirement?

Yeah, so we've covered a lot, and I don't think I have anything to add. I think really it's more so just a reminder and a recap of what we talked about that really all of this is to say don't fall into the trap of complacency when it comes to this law. Right. So, as we've talked about, we have these annual requirements in place. So even if you checked all your boxes in 2024, when that law was new, and yes, it was a monumental feat, and we should all be very proud of that, but our work doesn't stop there. And we are still going to have some boxes to check for 2025, as we will continue year after year. So remember, those annual requirements include reviewing your plan, updating it as needed, and then training your employees. Now, to that end, some people may feel overwhelmed. Maybe some folks are new to this law. You know, what are some resources out there? Of course, Cal Chamber has a whole host of resources, whether it's our webinar on the topic, we have a toolkit to help you, again, build that customized plan. Remember, that's the key word with this, it's all customized to your specific work site. Our latest addition, which we're very excited about, is individuals now have the ability to get customized support directly from our team of employment law experts to walk you through the toolkit and answer questions that you have about the requirements and how they apply to your workplace. So there's definitely a lot out there. We just want to make sure that people, you know, keep in mind all of the requirements as we are now coming up on the anniversary of this law taking effect.

Awesome. Well, Bianca, it is always a real treat to have you on the podcast and and I really appreciate you taking the time to walk us through these ongoing workplace violence prevention requirements.

Absolutely. Matt. Thanks for having me. Always a pleasure.

And thank you listeners for joining this discussion on the workplace. Please share and subscribe to Cal Chamber's podcast by visiting calchamber.com.