With the California Workplace Violence Prevention Bill — aka CA SB 553 — set to go into effect on July 1st, 2024, we thought we’d take some time in the lead-up to answer some frequently-asked questions about the legislation.
But before we get too far along, let’s make some introductions: We’re Ethena, a compliance training platform for modern teams. We have a variety of training courses, an employee hotline and case management system, and we get pretty nerdy and excited about any changes to compliance law.
All of which brings us back to today’s question. We’re starting with the most common one:
How many California-based employees do I need to have in order to be subject to SB 553?
There’s a short answer and a longer, more comprehensive answer, and we’re going to walk you through both of them.
What number of California employees triggers SB 553?
The short answer here is “it depends,” and the factor that it depends on most heavily is whether your place of business is publicly-accessible. Let’s take a look at some text pulled directly from the law itself, and describes one of the Bill’s exemptions:
(F) Places of employment where there are less than 10 employees working at the place at any given time and that are not accessible to the public, if the places are in compliance with Section 3203 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.
My business is accessible to the public — what does that mean in terms of SB 553?
Our first stop is with that phrase “accessible to the public.” Note that if your Californian place of business meets that definition — which is true of retail establishments, restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, and gyms, to name a few — you’re subject to SB 553 no matter how many employees you have. (Unless, of course, you’re subject to another exemption.)
Notable exceptions include hospitals, other health-care facilities, as well as service categories and operations covered by Section 3342 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, which are carved out because they’re already covered under other workplace violence prevention legislation.
And what if my business isn’t accessible to the public?
If your place of business isn’t accessible to the public, we can move through the rest of the Bill’s text, starting at the beginning.
Since businesses with fewer than 10 California employees are exempt from SB 553, we know that organizations with 10 or more are subject to it. That said, the first piece of nuance we need to add here is that only businesses with 10 or more covered Californian employees fall under the law.
So what is a “covered employee” under SB 553?
This category captures almost any type of employee (like full time, part time, consultants, or interns), with the exception of those working from a teleworking location of their choice, without that location being dictated by their employer.
So basically, if you have a fully distributed workforce and a portion of your remote employees have chosen to live and work in Los Angeles, you’re exempt from SB 553, no matter how many Golden Staters are on your employee rosters. Whereas if you have an office in Playa Del Rey and require your team to come in on a regular basis, you’re dictating their location and would be subject to SB 553, even if it’s just 10 folks coming in once a week.
Other pieces of the regulation to keep in mind
If you do believe you’re exempt based on having fewer than 10 covered, California-based employees, then take one last look at the final section of the Bill’s text as well.
That portion references Section 3203 of Title 8 again — which instructs on the necessity of having an Injury and Illness Prevention Program in place. If you aren’t in compliance there, the 10-employee minimum is no longer the milestone you’d need to hit to be subject to SB 553. In that case, you’d need a workplace violence prevention plan in place even with just one covered Californian employee — the same standards for a place of business that’s accessible to the public.
(And if you don’t yet have an IIP for your workplace because you didn’t realize you needed one, watch this space so you don’t miss our upcoming blog post on that very topic.)
I have fewer than 10 California-based employees and my business isn’t publicly accessible — do I need to worry about this?
At this exact moment, no, you don’t need to do anything specific. That said, if you have more than five California-based employees, it wouldn’t take too many new hires or relocations to push you over the cap, so it might behoove you to stay on top of the law.
Also, California lawmakers have reserved the right to require even exempt companies to comply with SB 553, with the following language:
Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the division may, by issuance of an order to take special action, require an employer that is exempt pursuant to paragraph (1) to comply with this section or require an employer to include employees or places of employment that are exempt pursuant to paragraph (1) in their compliance with this section.
So don’t assume you’re off the hook just because you only have nine people at your San Francisco office or a couple satellite folks in Fresno or Sacramento, okay? This is important stuff relating to the comfort and safety of your staff, so we don’t want anyone caught unawares.
Ethena is here to help you toward compliance with SB 553
That’s all for now, but we’ll be answering even more SB 553 questions in the coming weeks so that you’re more than prepped by the July 1st deadline.
In the meantime, feel free to check out our Workplace Violence Prevention plan template for help drawing up your own company’s documentation, explore our newly live Workplace Violence Prevention training course, or take a deeper dive on SB 553 if you want to join us in our compliance nerdery. 🤓
