What is California SB 553?

All employees, including business owners, managers, supervisors, and staff can be victims of workplace violence defined as being placed in a position where they are at a substantial risk of physical and/or emotional harm. 

California Senate Bill 553, the “Workplace Violence Prevention Plan,” was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsome on September 30, 2023, and filed with the California Secretary of State. The law is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2024. The bill requires employers affected by the new law to create, implement, and maintain a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan that includes:

• Providing effective training for employees.

• Consulting employees and their representatives when creating the plan.

• Identifying the individuals responsible for implementing the plan.

• Effectively communicating with employees in respect to workplace violence.

• Responding to reports of workplace violence, prohibit and interdict employee retaliation.

• Identifying, responding, and rectifying potential and actual workplace violence incidences. 

• Executing post-incident investigations.

 Workplace violence is defined as an act of violence, including threats, that happens in the workplace. 

This includes physical force and or psychological trauma irrespective of whether the employee sustains an actual injury. However, this does not include acts of personal self-defense or acts in the defense of others.

Previous drafts of the bill were very similar to Cal/OSHA, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, workplace violence regulations. However, Cal/OSHA regulations are only applicable to healthcare settings. Cal/OSHA had been working on developing a broader proposed workplace violence prevention standard, called the “Workplace Violence Prevention in General Industry Draft” for six years. Several last-minute amendments to SB 553 brought the bill much closer to Cal/OSHA’s draft regulations. 

In addition to implementing a workplace violence prevention plan, affected employers are also required to keep a violence incident log recording all the pertinent details about each incident. This information includes, but not limited to:

• Date, time, and location of the incident.

• Detailed account of the incident.

• Who committed the violence.

• Account of the circumstances surrounding the incident. 

• Whether the type of violence involved physical, verbal or both.

• Consequences of the incident, such as if a report was filed with law enforcement and if medical treatment was received.

• The contact information of the person completing the incident log.

Current California law authorizes any employer who has an employee who suffered violence or received a credible threat of violence that could or has been carried out in the workplace to file for a temporary restraining order after hearing of the complaint from the employee who suffered the violent act and/or other employees who witnessed that act at the workplace. The bill also authorizes the employee who has suffered violence or a threat of violence to have a collective bargaining representative. The representative is authorized to seek a temporary restraining order on behalf of the injured employee and the injured employee may decline to be named in the temporary restraining order. Victims of workplace violence may also be eligible to file a claim for compensation.

Violation of the law is a misdemeanor. The bill requires the Department of Industrial Relations to enforce the law and related requirements through issuing citations and a notice of civil penalty for employers who are not in compliance with the law. While the California Constitution mandates local agencies and school districts be reimbursed by the State of California for some costs mandated by the state, California Senate Bill 553 provides no reimbursement be required by this act.