Post Office Box Cc*

A November 2018 classroom training by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was not in compliance with AB 1825 and 2 CCR § 11024: a) it was not undertaken within 24 months of the last training event for any of the attendees; b) insufficient time was allocated to the required subject matter, and c) written proof of attendance and/or course completion was not generated. The City of Carmel-by-the-Sea partially disagrees with this Finding. On November 15, 2018, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provided training that was in full compliance with AB1825 and CCR § 11024. EEOC staff met with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) executive director and a deputy director to discuss EEOC's Respectful Workplaces training to ensure compliance with AB 1825 and California standards in their PowerPoint presentation and materials. Although the EEOC training was not undertaken within the 24 months of the last training event (January 14, 2016), sufficient time was allocated to the required subject matter and written proof (sign-in sheet) is on file*. The City recognizes the course certificates were not generated for the November 15, 2018 training and has updated the City's training procedures to ensure certificates are generated in the future. *The November 15, 2018 sign-in sheet was discovered after submitting documents to the Monterey County Grand Jury.

A contributing factor to the city's failure to meet the two-year timeframe for sexual harassment/abusive conduct re-training was the absence of city staff with the responsibility to oversee employee training. The City of Carmel by the Sea partially disagrees with this Finding. The Human Resources division had staff during this timeframe and although recognizes the importance and priority of sexual harassment / abusive conduct training, staff failed to complete the training by January 2018. A contributing factor to the delay of the training is in part to HR researching best practices that were identified in the EEOC's Harassment Prevention Report. The City training has changed from a 2-hour (lecture format) course to a 4-hour (interactive) course that focuses on effective tools and methodologies for middle-managers and first-line supervisors to prevent and stop harassment that goes above and beyond traditional anti-harassment training. The City has added procedures that regardless of the absence of city staff that is responsible to oversee employee training, the City will monitor and continue to provide sexual harassment/abusive conduct re-training within the required timeframe.

The lack of attendance and completion for the November 2018 EEOC classroom training was due in part to the city's assumption that the trainer would be responsible for all such documentation, and in part to the EEOC's practice of not generating certificates. The City of Carmel-by-the-Sea partially agrees with this Finding. At the time of the Monterey County grand jury request, staff was unable to locate the corresponding sign- in sheets. Staff has located the documentation and confirms that 21 out of 25 supervisors attended the EEOC in-person training (per the sign-in sheet), so there was not a lack of attendance. In addition, Human Resources Division staff has updated the procedures for all trainings and now routinely collects sign-in sheets while also generating certifications and/or work with consultant trainers to provide a certificate for each employee that attends the training session.

There were six people who the city either hired or promoted to supervisory positions at some point during the 2017/18 fiscal year, and who should have received AB 1825 training within six months of hire/promotion. The November 15, 2018 EEOC training could have afforded a timely compliance scenario only for those FY 17/18 employees that were hired/promoted during the six week period between May 16 and June 30, 2018. There were no other AB 1825 trainings of city employees during the period May 16, 2017 to November 15, 2018. The City of Carmel-by-the Sea partially disagrees with this Finding. It appears the spreadsheet submitted did not clearly reflect that the six people identified actually separated from City employment in FY2017/18. The City now requires, as part of the new hire onboarding process, that all new employees take the AB 1825 training on-line through TargetSolutions within 6 months of employment and attend the in-person AB 1825 sexual harassment/abusive conduct training upon scheduling. As such, the City believes in providing additional training when it comes to maintaining and building a professional and respectful organization.