Harassment Prevention Training Program
Program Background
USC’s initiative has two components:
- Trustees’ Mandate: Faculty and staff to receive harassment prevention education every 2 years; our training years are the odd-digit years (i.e. 2005, 2007, 2009, etc.)
- California AB 1825 Regulations:
- Employers with 50+ persons to provide 2 hours of sexual harassment training every 2 years to California supervisors; USC trains all employees
- The course must be 2 hours long
- USC’s procedure requires training to be completed within 60 days of being hired
During a training year, each employee is required to take the course, even if he or she:
- Completed training in a non-training year — USC has opted to defer to the “training year” option of legal compliance; thus those who train or are hired in the off years must again retrain by the end of the “training year”
- Is less than 50% benefits-eligible
- Has taken it with another employer
Training Implementation
During a training year, the specified university-wide training period will be announced with correspondence from senior leadership and the Professional Development staff. During a non-training year or during the time period outside of the specified training period, new hires will be notified in the New Employee Orientation and via email about taking the training. Non-compliant employees will be reminded to take the training until the training is completed.
Harassment Prevention Training is provided online and, if necessary, during in-person training sessions. The online training is the preferred method of training and each employee is sent an email notification about how to access the training. If an employee prefers to receive training in-person, he/she may register for a faculty, staff, or Spanish-speaking class. These classes are offered during the bi-annual rollout period and during the non-training years. All details for registering for training can be found at www.usc.edu/harassmentawareness or by calling the registrar at 213-740-5885.
All employees will complete training online through the vendor Workplace Answers.
IAP Definition, Roles, and Responsibilities
IAP stands for Internal Accountability Person, which essentially is the primary contact person in a department/division for tracking the rate of compliance within a department/division. IAPs are asked to attend Harassment Prevention Program meetings and check the IAP online portal to receive up-to-date information about the program’s progress.
IAPs are responsible for monitoring the completion reports for the department/division and contacting those employees who have not completed the training by the specified end dates for the training completion. IAPs are not responsible for reprimanding employees about not completing the training. This is the responsibility of the Office of Administrative Operations or the Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs.