Workplace Violence Prevention Program 

Existing law authorizes any employer, whose employee has suffered unlawful violence or a credible threat of violence from any individual that can reasonably be construed to be carried out or to have been carried out at the workplace, to seek a temporary restraining order and an order after hearing on behalf of the employee and other employees at the workplace, as described.

This bill, commencing January 1, 2025, would also authorize a collective bargaining representative of an employee, as described, to seek a temporary restraining order and an order after hearing on behalf of the employee and other employees at the workplace, as described. The bill would require an employer or collective bargaining representative of an employee, before filing such a petition, to provide the employee who has suffered unlawful violence or a credible threat of violence from any individual an opportunity to decline to be named in the temporary restraining order. Under the bill, an employee’s request to not be named in the temporary restraining order would not prohibit an employer or collective bargaining representative from seeking a temporary restraining order on behalf of other employees at the workplace, and, if appropriate, other employees at other workplaces of the employer. The bill would make various conforming changes.

Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, imposes safety responsibilities on employers and employees, including the requirement that an employer establish, implement, and maintain an effective injury prevention program, and makes specified violations of these provisions a crime. The act is enforced by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (division) within the Department of Industrial Relations, including the enforcement of standards adopted by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards board (standards board).