As a result of Assembly Bill 2053, many California real estate brokerages will now be required to provide anti-bullying training to their supervisory employees. This is in addition to the already-required training regarding sexual harassment.
It is a safe bet that quite a few California brokers and owners do not realize that they are required to provide such training. That is because the law (Government Code §12950.1) applies to employers having fifty or more employees. While quite a few real estate companies have more than fifty agents, not many think of themselves as having more than fifty employees. A company with fifty agents could likely have fewer than ten who are actually on payroll.
But the law applies to more than payroll employees. It says, "For purposes of this section only, "employer" means any person regularly employing 50 or more persons or regularly receiving the services of 50 or more persons providing services pursuant to a contract …" [my emphasis] Those would be independent contractor agents.
What does the law require? For almost ten years affected employers have been mandated to "… provide at least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory employees within six months of their assumption of a supervisory position, and thereafter every two years." Now, added to that, "An employer shall also include prevention of abusive conduct as a component of the training and education specified…"
"Abusive conduct" is defined as "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 infliction of verbal abuse, such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets, 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."
Proponents of the legislation cited surveys commissioned by the Workplace Bullying Institute showing that 27% of Americans have suffered abusive conduct at work, another 21% have witnessed it, and 72% are aware that workplace bullying happens. They argued that workplace bullying reduces productivity and morale, which may lead to higher absenteeism rates, frequent turnover, and even increases in medical and workers' compensation claims.
The bill passed last summer and was approved by the Governor September 9, 2014.
Who in a real estate company with 50 or more employees (including agents) would be required to take the training? Supervisory employees. Presumably, that would include the office manager and perhaps the supervising broker. Probably not the transaction coordinator(s) or the receptionist. Surely there could be others.
Finally, we note what at least one attorney has observed: while anti-bullying training is now required, bullying itself -- unless directed at a member of a protected class -- is not against the law.
Bob Hunt is a director of the California Association of Realtors®. He is the author of Real Estate the Ethical Way.
