BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 2053
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          Date of Hearing:   May 7, 2014

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

               AB 2053 (Gonzalez) - As Introduced:  February 20, 2014 

          Policy Committee:                              LaborVote:7-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill amends existing law to include prevention of abusive  
          conduct in sexual harassment training.  Specifically, this bill:

          1)Requires existing training and education regarding sexual  
            harassment to include prevention of abusive conduct as a  
            component of the training and education.

          2)Defines abusive conduct to mean conduct of an employer or  
            employee in the workplace, with malice, that a reasonable  
            person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an  
            employer's legitimate business interests.  Abusive conduct may  
            include repeated verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable  
            person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating,  
            or the gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person's work  
            performance.

          3)Specifies a single act shall not constitute abusive conduct,  
            unless especially severe or egregious.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor costs to update existing sexual harassment training.  
          Minor/absorbable costs to Department of Fair Employment and  
          Housing related to enforcement of this measure. 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose.  Current law requires an employer with 50 or more  
            employees to provide, every two years, at least two hours of  
            classroom or other effective interactive training and  
            education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory  








                                                                  AB 2053
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            employees within six months of their assumption of a  
            supervisory position.  The sponsors of the bill, the  
            California Teamsters Public Affairs Council, aim to prevent  
            workplace bullying by requiring the inclusion of training and  
            education regarding abusive conduct to existing harassment  
            training. Rather than being punitive, they contend the bill  
            seeks to prevent harassment from happening in the first place  
            by educating managers.  Moreover, it combines this education  
            with sexual harassment training as it is not uncommon for the  
            two problems to occur hand in hand.




          2)Opposition.  The California Association for Health Services at  
            Home states that nothing prevents an employer from  
            incorporating into existing harassment programs further  
            training relative to abusive conduct.  However, if enacted,  
            this bill would increase employer costs through the  
            establishment of a new employer mandate.
                
            Analysis Prepared by  :    Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081