Discrimination
AB 1803 (2026): Employers Add Anti-Hate Speech to Harassment Training
Updated
Assembly Bill 1803, authored by Assembly Member Lowenthal, amends Government Code section 12950.1 to require that California’s mandatory sexual harassment prevention training include an anti-hate speech component. The bill takes effect January 1, 2027, and the new training component becomes operative beginning January 1, 2028. It applies to employers with five or more employees who are already required to provide this training.
Background
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act, administered by the Civil Rights Department, makes specified employment practices unlawful, including harassment of an employee. Existing law requires employers with five or more employees to provide sexual harassment prevention training: at least two hours for supervisory employees and at least one hour for nonsupervisory employees, repeated once every two years.
Government Code section 12950.1 already requires this training to cover several components, including the prevention of abusive conduct and harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. Assembly Bill 1803 adds anti-hate speech training as a further required component of that same training and education.
What the Law Changes
Beginning January 1, 2028, employers covered by section 12950.1 must include anti-hate speech training as a component of their existing sexual harassment prevention training. The statute directs that this component provide supervisors and employees with practical guidance on recognizing, reporting, and confronting workplace speech that vilifies, humiliates, or incites hatred against people based on the protected characteristics listed in Government Code section 12940, subdivision (a).
The bill does not change the covered-employer threshold, the training hours, or the two-year training cycle. It adds a subject matter requirement to training that these employers already provide.
Starting January 1, 2028, employers with five or more employees must include anti-hate speech training, covering speech that vilifies, humiliates, or incites hatred based on protected characteristics, as a component of their required sexual harassment prevention training.
Compliance and Scope
The statute provides that training addressing the prohibition against unlawful harassment and the prevention of abusive conduct based on an individual’s protected characteristics under section 12940, subdivision (a), satisfies the anti-hate speech requirement. The measure otherwise leaves the framework of section 12950.1 in place, including the existing rules on new-hire timing, temporary and seasonal workers, and construction-industry collective bargaining arrangements.
What This Means for You
Beginning in 2028, California employers with five or more employees must add an anti-hate speech component to the sexual harassment prevention training they already provide. The requirement reaches workplaces subject to Government Code section 12950.1 and concerns the content of that mandated training.
I write these summaries as general information about developments in California employment law. They are not legal advice and don’t create a mediator–client relationship. For guidance on a specific matter, consult a qualified attorney.