California Firms Must Work Fast to Comply on Violence Prevention

By July 1, virtually all employers in California must comply with the state’s new workplace violence prevention law. California is the first in the nation to enact workplace violence prevention requirements that are comprehensive and apply across industries.

Employers must establish and implement a workplace violence prevention plan, or WVPP, that addresses worksite-specific hazards, train all employees on its components, adopt a violent incident log to record threats and violent incidents, and create records that demonstrate compliance with these and other statutory requirements.

This is no small undertaking. The state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or DOSH, confirmed that there will be no grace period and will begin enforcing the law immediately. California employers have their work cut out for them to meet the deadline and avoid costly penalties for non-compliance.

The state’s leadership in this area should come as no surprise to those who advise clients on occupational safety and health issues, as the state often sets the standard for other states to follow on matters intended to protect workers from preventable harms in the workplace.

Tragedy inspired and informed the legislation that ultimately became California’s first-in-the-nation workplace violence prevention law. State Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) introduced Senate Bill 553 in September, following a mass shooting at a workplace in his Bay Area district that left 10 people dead.

SB 553 was introduced on Feb. 15, 2023, and underwent a number of amendments thereafter—transforming it from a law that would have merely directed DOSH to establish standards to require employers to adopt a workplace violence prevention plan as part of their illness and injury prevention plan by a certain date to the robust, comprehensive law that was ultimately passed.

Unfortunately, workplace violence isn’t limited to California. According to a 2022 joint study on workplace violence from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, there are, on average, over one million non-fatal workplace violence incidents every year and hundreds more fatal ones.

California’s landmark workplace violence prevention law is likely to serve as a model for other states to follow as legislatures look for ways to try to protect employees. Such action is already happening in New York and Minnesota, states both considering bills requiring employers to develop and implement workplace violence prevention programs.

While the bills under consideration in New York and Minnesota are more targeted and not as far-reaching as California’s workplace violence prevention law, they bear some similarities and suggest that other states may look to California’s law for inspiration, even on an incremental basis.

While the goal behind California’s law is laudable, the obligations imposed on employers are numerous and significant. Complicating employer compliance with these new legal obligations, the body responsible for promulgating regulations on the statute hasn’t done so and likely won’t do so for the foreseeable future.

This has left many employers unsure of how to create a WVPP and train employees in such a way that will ensure compliance with the law by the time the law is effective, and DOSH starts enforcement.

To provide some clarity, California employers are encouraged to undertake the following steps to demonstrate their good faith attempts to comply with the law.

Start with a good template. Employers should develop a customized WVPP for their work areas and operations using a good template from a trusted source rather than creating a WVPP from scratch.

While DOSH issued a model that “provides the essential framework and is intended to help employers establish a separate, stand-alone WVPP,” it also provided that adopting and using its template wouldn’t ensure compliance with the law. Employers that elect to use DOSH’s WVPP template must customize it to address and account for specific work areas or operations and potential hazards specific to the work area or operation.

Consult with professionals. Implementing a WVPP that complies with the new workplace violence prevention law will be challenging for most employers, particularly those without in-house occupational safety and health professionals. There are benefits from reaching out to legal counsel or occupational safety and health professionals for advice and counsel and reviewing WVPPs to ensure satisfaction of pertinent legal requirements.

Use available resources. Under the workplace violence prevention law, DOSH isn’t required to promulgate regulations for the law until Dec. 31, 2026—a year and a half after the law takes effect and enforcement begins.

In the interim, employers should seek out resources and implement workplace violence prevention measures to demonstrate their good faith in their attempt to comply with the law. Employers should review and reference guidance published by DOSH and should check on future updates to such guidance.

Employers—particularly those with large workforces and numerous work locations—must devote considerable time to creating a WVPP that complies with the law and coordinate training for their employees.

Additionally, employers will need ample time to obtain the active involvement of employees and if they have represented workforces, employee organizations, in developing and implementing the WVPP, as well as to assess and address any workplace-specific hazards and develop strategies and tactics to help employees avoid physical harm.

All of this will take time. Employers that haven’t begun taking steps to comply with the workplace violence prevention law should do so immediately.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

Author Information

Alexander Volberding is partner with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, representing public agencies throughout the state of California in all aspects of labor and employment law.

Brett Overby is senior counsel with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, representing organizations such as public and private educators, nonprofits, and public agencies in all aspects of labor and employment law.

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