Abusive Conduct Under California Law: Everything You Need to Know

Under SB (Senate Bill) 78, abusive conduct under California law refers to the malicious behavior of an employee or employer in an organization that a rational person would find offensive, hostile, and unrelated to an employer's legitimate company interests.

According to a recent report, one out of five people in the United States faces harassment, verbal abuse, humiliating conduct, unwanted sexual attention, and even threats in their workplace. Therefore, to control and prevent harassment and abuse at their workplace, organizations in California must undergo harassment training. 

This harassment training determines what abusive conduct in the workplace is and how top-level administrators and staff members can recognize and report it as abusive acts can happen both verbally and physically. The California AB (Assembly Bill) 2053 holds stringent punishments for people who perpetrate abusive acts, especially in the workplace.

Understanding California Law AB 2053

This new California AB 2053 law mandates companies with more than 50 team members to incorporate abusive conduct prevention and anti-bullying training under their sexual harassment training program. Sexual harassment training is a two-hour learning program that strives to familiarize and control abuse and sexual harassment in the workplace. This training is practical and interactive, and managers must undergo this abuse prevention training in their workplace once every six months and once every two years. 

However, to constitute an abusive act under California enacted AB 2053, the conduct must remain egregious and severe, and it includes the following types of behavior:

• Constant infliction of verbal or physical abuse, such as the use of demeaning comments, slurs, and epithets

• Verbal or physical conduct that a rational person would find frightening, stern, humiliating

• The deliberate damage or undermining of an individual's workplace performance

To effectively include this content in a harassment prevention training course, companies must add new content to their current AB 1825 compliance training programs. Furthermore, organizations must do the following:

• Distinguish between abusive conduct and prohibited harassment (which is not technically illegal harassment)

• Explain to administrators that they must never tolerate abusive acts and address them immediately

• Assist managers in comprehending how to identify offensive conduct

• Help supervisors understand how to react when an employee presents a problem about abusive acts

• Hold workplace and managers accountable when they foster or do not take stringent actions on prevailing abusive acts

What are some common abusive acts in the workplace?

Abusive conduct can happen in both physical and verbal ways. In addition, people can also face abuse via digital platforms on other levels. Below are some prevalent abusive acts that stand punishable under the new California AB 2053 law. 

1. Verbal abuse

Verbal abuse holds numerous examples — it can be as trivial as gossiping or as severe as bullying and name-calling. Some other typical examples of verbal abuse in a workplace include:

• Slandering
• Ridiculing
• Insulting a co-worker
• Belittling a colleague
• Screaming and yelling at a co-worker
• Any kind of criticism that impacts another person's job performance

In addition, abusive verbal conduct can move a step ahead into prejudice, swearing, and even threats.

2. Physical abuse

Below are some common types of physical abuse in a workplace punishable under the new California AB 2053 law.

• Kicking
• Shoving
• Punching
• Tripping someone

In addition, there are further little-known instances of physical abuse. Harming or ruining another person's workplace is another prevalent form of physical abuse. While threats usually fall under verbal abuse, some can turn physical, such as controlling or intimidating behavior.

3. Sexual harassment

Many abusive acts fall under the sexual harassment domain. It comprises derogatory statements, slurs, bodily sexual abuse, unwanted sexual touch, demanding or requesting sexual favors from an employee, and any undesirable conduct of sexual nature that prevents a person from completing their job.

4. Visual and nonverbal abuse

Specific actions likewise fall into the type of abusive nonverbal conduct. In addition, threatening gestures, such as making a fist or lifting the middle finger, are examples of visual abuse. It can further include showing inappropriate and lewd images, wearing improper clothing to the office, and even overlooking an employee as a kind of nonverbal abuse.

5. Workplace interference

Workplace interference is a prevalent yet unheard-of form of abusive conduct. It happens when a person damages another person's work, usually for personal and professional gain. Upper-level administration can also perpetrate workplace interference and includes allocating lowly tasks outside of an employee's work as a form of authority or entitlement.

6. Cyber abuse

Cyber abuse is evolving as the most predominant organizational abuse. Cyber abuse is when a person receives objectionable messages on online platforms (workplace chats, social media, texting, email, etc.) portraying torturing, threatening, and harassing language.

Who is the perpetrator of abusive conduct in the workplace?

Offensive conduct usually happens when a team member attempts to control another person or a manager who displays a misuse of authority. However, it is usually challenging to determine who will verbally or physically harass other team members in your company.

In addition, some individuals hold bully tendencies and may gang up on one worker or treat a group of employees with abusive acts. Furthermore, sometimes, many employees team up and harass one or more staff members.

How to control and prevent abusive conduct in a workplace?

As per the new California AB 2053 law, abusive conduct training now gets covered in sexual harassment prevention training, which will assist in educating your workforce on offensive conduct and how to control it. However, companies can take stringent steps to ensure no team member falls prey to an abusive demeanor. Here are some steps you can take to limit offensive conduct in a workplace.

• You can recognize unacceptable and abusive behavior as an employer, holding meetings to identify and control this conduct.

• You can circulate an abusive behavior notice, publish it in the office and release it via workplace chat or email. Make it a point that your workplace holds a zero-tolerance policy for abusive conduct. 

• Abuse prevention guidelines at your workplace should also incorporate instructions on ways to report workplace bullying, abuse, and sexual harassment.

• You can likewise encourage a compliant work environment. It includes giving constructive criticism, positive feedback, and empowering your workforce rather than humiliating.

• As an employer, you must regularly communicate with your team members and ensure everything is alright. In addition, always keep your eyes open and provide your team with a comfortable place to report anything that's bothering them.

• Employers must uphold the norms of a safe workplace. It includes not committing and tolerating abusive behaviors towards any person. 

• In addition, organizations must provide supervisors with more abusive prevention training that they must undergo once every six months. While these measures will not eliminate the instances of offensive conduct from your workplace, you and your team can remain better educated on ways to manage these situations.

The bottom line 

Abusive conduct under California law might be challenging to understand. It is why training is essential under the new California AB 2053 law. These offensive conduct pieces of training are the most suitable way organizations can make their workforce aware of various kinds of workplace offense conduct and how to control them. In addition, such abuse prevention training can happen either physically or via online training courses.

If your organization prefers conducting live anti-abuse training, the training provider must hold all the necessary understanding and proficiency in abuse prevention, prejudice, and gender or sexual harassment.