California agencies not giving required harassment training

An investigation has found a number of California state agencies have failed to provide sexual harassment training for all their supervisors as required by state law.

Capital Public Radio's investigation had determined nearly 60 percent of agencies surveyed by the State Personnel Board didn’t provide the training, up from 25 percent in 2016 and 32 percent in 2017.

The investigation found some larger agencies, like the Department of Corrections, failed to train hundreds of supervisors, while several smaller ones didn't train any.

The radio station reported since 2016, the State Personnel Board has identified nearly 1,800 state government supervisors at dozens of agencies who didn’t receive the required training. A state law requires businesses with 50 or more workers and all state agencies to provide two hours of sexual harassment training to new supervisors within six months of being hired or promoted. Existing supervisors must receive follow-up training every two years.

State Personnel Board Executive Officer Suzanne Ambrose says the noncompliance exposes the state to liability and can create hostile work environments.