Q. What is sexual harassment?
A. Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects a person's employment or education or which unreasonably interferes with a person's work or educational performances, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working or learning environment. It is a form of sex or gender discrimination and violates both Federal and State law.

Q. What constitutes a hostile work environment?
A. A hostile work environment may exist when verbal or nonverbal behavior in the workplace:

• focuses on the sexuality of another person or occurs because of the person's gender;
• is unwanted or unwelcome; and
• is severe or pervasive enough to unreasonably affect the employee's work environment or student's educational environment.

Examples of this type of harassment include but are not limited to unwelcome off-color jokes or teasing, derogatory comments of a sexual nature, sexual innuendoes, inappropriate touching, or sexual assault/rape.

Q. What should I do if I feel that I am being sexually harassed?
A. If you believe you have been sexually harassed, you may contact your location's Title IX Compliance Officer or Human Resources Department, a manager or supervisor for information about and assistance with informal and formal options for resolving your complaint. Students and/or faculty may also contact Academic Personnel or Student Judicial affairs in addition to the above.

Complaints of sexual harassment also may be filed with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) or with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). You can contact the nearest DFEH or EEOC office for further information.

For further information click on Reporting Procedures to see the University of California Procedures for Responding to Reports of Sexual Harassment.

Q. What is the mandatory supervisor & faculty training requirement for sexual harassment prevention?
A. Effective January 1, 2005, UC supervisors and academic appointees are required under California law (AB 1825) to have two hours of sexual harassment prevention training once every two years.

UCOP Office of General Counsel has provided a definition of supervisor clarifying that all academic administrators, such as provosts, deans, department chairs, and principal investigators would fall within this definition and be subject to the mandatory training requirement. In addition, because most faculty members supervise teaching assistants and/or research assistants, all faculty and lecturers will be subject to the mandatory training requirement.

Q. Who is required to take a supervisory sexual harassment prevention education course?
A. All supervisors, including all employees with HEERA designations or employees who meet the following criteria:

• "Any individual having the authority, and the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, layoff, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline other employees, or the responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend that action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of that authority is not merely of a routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment."
• All faculty appointees, whether full-time or part-time, regardless of actual supervisory responsibilities.
• All employees with MSP titles or contracts, regardless of actual supervisory responsibilities.

Q. How can I satisfy the new requirement?
A. Employees who are subject to the requirement may satisfy it in one of 2 ways:

• The online training provided by the UC Learning Center.
• If supervisors would prefer to fulfill the requirement through an instructor-led course they should sign up for a classroom presentation at your location which satisfies the mandatory sexual harassment training requirement for supervisors under California law. To find more information about instructor-led courses at your location please visit your local Campus Title IX and Sexual Harassment Resources Office.

** PLEASE NOTE: UC has many training programs and online programs and though all employees are welcome to take as many training programs as they would like regarding Sexual Harassment Prevention, the only program that will satisfy the AB1825 requirement is the online training provided by UCOP.