New Requirement for Your California Work Permit (ages 14 – 18)
Preventing Sexual Harassment and Child Abuse
Many parents with California Entertainment Work Permits are aware that some laws were changing, but seemed to be in limbo. The short story is that it took a package of 3 new pieces of legislation to fix. The following bills were passed into law in September 2020. Due to the impact of COVID on the Department of Labor, the implementation was delayed, but as of January 2021, the DLSE is requiring a certficiate of completion for the sexual harassment training.
9/25/20 AB3175 sexual harassment training **takes effect immediately**
9/28/20 A3369 sexual harassment every 2 years **takes effect immediately**
9/29/20 AB1963 mandated reporters
Bizparentz Foundation is supportive of any measure that encourages #metoo or #timesup to be elevated to #nomorevictims. We believe in the prevention of child abuse and sexual harassment. We believe these three bills move toward that goal.
Previous laws attempted to provide sexual harassment training to professional child actors, but they were unable to be implemented. These new laws improved that situation in a few of ways:
–aligns the timing of training to the timing that exists for all workers: every two years
–made the training itself more appropriate for teens
–required parents to take the training with their teen so that parents can answer questions and add context that is consistent with their own family values.
The training can be taken for FREE and is available now. The online module takes two hours, and it is timed. You should watch this WITH your child. There are no shortcuts or ability to navigate to the end during the training. Don’t begin until you are sure you can finish. Parental advisory: This training is PG rated and it is meant for ages 14 and up. There are a few moments that you may need to stop the training and discuss the content in light of your families beliefs and value system. In particular, there are videos that contain some sexually suggestive language, and in a video shown within the training, there is an explanation of non-binary gender identities. You can watch that video separately here.
Important tip: make sure to keep the electronic certificate earned at the end of the training, since you will need it for subsequent entertainment work permit renewals. You need only do this every two years, but your work permit is renewed every six months. The state system does not automatically log who took the training so if you don’t keep the certificate, you will need to repeat the entire module. You will need to attach the certificate to your electronic work permit application, just as you do with your report card or birth certificate.
Take the training for free, here:
A Workplace of Respect
https://www.dfeh.ca.gov/shpt/
Details on the 2020 Laws
California AB3369 (Chu) Passed 9/28/20 TAKES EFFECT IMMEDIATELY. This bill was part of an effort to clean up AB2338 (Levine) which was not implemented due to multiple problems. This law exempts employers of child actors from the sexual harassment training component IF the child has a valid work permit and IF the child is in compliance with the sexual harassment training requirement listed in Labor Code 1700.52. In other words, it means the child actor will not have to do sexual harassments training for EVERY job, EVERY employer. Instead they will only need to complete the training every two years. LC 1700.52 also requires that talent agencies keep a copy of a child’s work permit prior to agreeing to represent them, or send them on an audition.
California AB1963 (Chu) Passed 9/29/20. This bill added most of our employers to the list of people who are mandated reporters of child abuse. The specific language is, “A human resource employee of a business that employs minors or a person whose duties require direct contact with and supervision of minors in the performance of the minors’ duties in the workplace.”.
California AB3175 (Levine) Passed 9/25/20. The urgency clause in this bill means it will take effect immediately. This is a major clean-up of the Levine bill from 2019 that required sexual harassment training for a child’s entertainment work permit. That bill was never really implemented because the problems were too extensive and appropriate training was not available.
This law:
–changes the training from both the child and the parent separately, to the parent doing training WITH the child, allowing parents the ability to discuss and explain sensitive situations
–the pair must complete online training in the state website (FREE), and then report completion to the DLSE.