FEHA Expands Again: Three New Developments California Employers Need to Know
Governor Newsom has signed three bills that further expand California’s workplace protections under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and related statutes. Here is what employers need to know about each one.
1. Anti-hate-speech training joins the curriculum
Current Harassment and Abusive Conduct Training Requirements
FEHA (Government Code § 12950.1) requires employers with five or more employees to provide sexual harassment and “abusive conduct” prevention training every two years: at least two hours for supervisors and at least one hour for nonsupervisory employees in California. New employees must be trained within six months of hire, and employees promoted into a supervisory position must be trained within six months of the promotion. Seasonal and temporary employees hired for less than six months must be trained within 30 calendar days or 100 hours worked, whichever comes first.
The training must cover federal and state law on sexual harassment, and harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, among other topics. The training also must address the topic of “abusive conduct,” which is defined as conduct in the workplace, done with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to the employer’s legitimate business interests. “Abusive conduct” is not limited to conduct based on a protected characteristic (e.g., gender or race), and may include repeated verbal abuse such as derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets; verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating; and gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person’s work performance.
Additions Under Assembly Bill 1803
Beginning January 1, 2028, covered employers must include “anti-hate-speech training” in their sexual harassment prevention training. The training must give employees and supervisors practical guidance on recognizing, reporting, and confronting workplace speech that vilifies, humiliates, or incites hatred against people based on characteristics protected under FEHA. The added content is a component of the existing harassment prevention training; the bill does not increase the one-hour and two-hour minimum length requirements.
Training satisfies the new requirement if it covers the prohibition against unlawful harassment (which it already should) and if it discusses that “abusive conduct” can also be based on protected characteristics.
Next Steps for Employers
Employers should review their training materials and confirm they include the anti-hate-speech component by January 1, 2028.
2. Sex discrimination protections clarified across state law
Additions Under Assembly Bill 2563
Assembly Bill 2563, signed September 30, 2026, establishes a uniform definition of “sex discrimination” across California codes, including FEHA, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the Labor Code.
Effective January 1, 2027, “sex discrimination” will include discrimination based on any of the following actual or perceived characteristics or actions:
- Assigned sex or gender category, including female, male, or nonbinary.
- Degree of conformity to sex or gender stereotypes.
- Gender, including gender identity, gender expression, and access to, and use of, gender-affirming care and other related health care.
- Pregnancy or related medical conditions.
- Decisionmaking, access to care, or potential or actual use of a drug, device, product, or service relating to pregnancy or related medical conditions.
- Sexual orientation.
- Variations in sex characteristics, including intersex traits or differences in sex development.
Notably, AB 2563 would also have added “perimenopause, menopause, or postmenopause, or medical conditions related to” those conditions to the definition if its companion bill, AB 1940, became law. Governor Newsom vetoed AB 1940 on September 30, 2026, so the expanded definition does not include those conditions.
Next Steps for Employers
AB 2563 does not expressly require employers to revise their policies. Even so, employers should brief HR and supervisors on the expanded definition and consider updating their EEO and anti-discrimination policies and training to match.
3. Bereavement leave for a “designated person”
California’s bereavement leave law (Government Code § 12945.7) requires employers with five or more employees to let eligible employees take up to five days of leave after the death of a family member. Employees are eligible after at least 30 days of employment. “Family member” currently means a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law.
Senate Bill 1149, signed September 27, 2026 and effective January 1, 2027, adds a “designated person” to that definition. A designated person is anyone related to the employee by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. Employees may name the designated person when they request leave, and employers may limit employees to one designated person per 12-month period. All other bereavement leave rules remain unchanged.
Next Steps for Employers
California’s paid sick leave law and the California Family Rights Act already use the “designated person” concept, so many employers will already find it familiar. Employers should add “designated person” to the bereavement leave policy in their handbooks before January 1, 2027. They should also train HR and managers to accept a reasonable designation without probing the nature of the relationship, because intrusive questions could invite discrimination or retaliation claims.
If you need help building these new requirements into your policies or training, please contact your trusted MSK Labor & Employment attorney.
