California Workplace Violence Prevention Plan Compliance: July 1, 2024 Deadline – Are You Ready?

Topics: Legal Information, New Laws & Legislation, Personnel Policies and Procedures

Effective July 1, 2024, all California employers (with a few exceptions) – regardless of industry – are required to: (1) have a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (“WVPP”), (2) train employees on the WVPP, workplace violence hazard identification and reporting, (3) conduct periodic workplace hazard inspections, and (4) maintain an incident log. There is no grace period or ramp-up period. Therefore, employers need to have a WVPP effective prior to or as of the July 1, 2024 date, and should have begun the process of training employees for timely compliance.

California’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“Cal-OSHA”) is the regulator for enforcement and oversight of this new complex administrative requirement. Not only will Cal-OSHA have yet another reason to visit employers and conduct audits, but Cal-OSHA’s will not finalize its workplace prevention standards until December 2025. Employers, therefore, are faced with the challenges of interpreting the contradictory, ambiguous and ever-expanding administrative obstacle course that is California labor and employment law. The following are key considerations in anticipation of the upcoming July 1, 2024 deadline.

Types of Workplace Violence and Employee Training

The new California law identifies four types of violence that need to be addressed through prevention efforts in every employer’s WVPP. The types of violence range from Type 1 Violence, such as robberies, to Type 4 Violence, such as acts of domestic violence.
California law defines the four types of violence as follows:

• Type 1 Violence: workplace violence committed by a person who has no legitimate business at the worksite, including violent acts by anyone who enters the workplace or approaches workers with the intent to commit a crime.
• Type 2 Violence: workplace violence directed at employees by customers, clients, patients, students, or visitors.
• Type 3 Violence: workplace violence against an employee by a present or former employee, supervisor, or manager.
• Type 4 Violence: violence committed in the workplace by a person who does not work there but has or is known to have had a personal relationship with an employee.

Employees should be trained to identify each type of potential workplace violence, how to report incidents, how to prevent potential workplace violence; and provided with and trained on the WVPP. It is imperative that employers train employees to be a mitigating force against potential workplace violence incidents. 

The WVVP and Incident Log

Workplace violence is any act or threat of violence (excluding lawful acts of self-defense or defense of others) that occurs at a place of employment, which includes employer-sponsored events such as holiday parties, team-building events, conferences, etc. The WVPP itself is intended to serve as a guide for employers to mitigate acts or threats of workplace violence, and a guide for employees to identify actual and potential incidents or threats that could result in workplace violence.  

The following should be included in an employer’s WVPP:

• Identifying who is responsible for implementing the plan;
• How employees report concerns, threats, or actual incidents of violence; 
• A process for responding to reports of workplace violence and to prohibit employee retaliation;
• Communicating with employees regarding workplace violence matters;
• Responding to actual and potential emergencies;
• Developing and providing effective training;
• Identifying, evaluating, and correcting workplace violence hazards; and
• Performing post-incident response and investigation.

If a workplace violence incident occurs, an incident log must be completed and maintained for five (5) years. The incident log should include, but is not limited to, the following information: 

• The workplace violence incident location; 
• Workplace violence type (Type 1-4); 
• A description of the circumstances related to and the specifics of what occurred during the incident; 
• The identity of the individual who perpetrated the incident;
• Whether any actions were taken as a result of the incident (i.e., contacting law enforcement); 
• Whether any injuries resulted from the incident; and 
• The name of the individual who completed the incident log. 

Employer Beware – there is no grace period for employers to comply with the July 1, 2024 WVPP requirements. Now is the time to draft a WVPP (a model WVPP can be found on the Department of Industrial Relations Cal-OSHA Workplace Violence Prevention Guidance and Resources page), or to reach out to your employment counsel for guidance and a WVPP exemplar. 

For more information regarding WVPP and how to prepare for the looming July 1, 2024 compliance deadline, we encourage you to attend CDF’s upcoming April 30, 2024 Webinar: No Plan, No Problem – California Workplace Violence Prevention Plan Requirements and Compliance Overview. To register, click here.