Imagine you're managing a busy shift at a California diner. A supervisor signals a server to skip their rest break because "we’re short-staffed." It’s a tiny decision—but a year later, that diner is facing a costly wage and hour lawsuit, and the supervisor is wondering why they weren’t trained. 

This kind of moment defines why compliance training is essential in California—not just as a legal checkbox, but as a safeguard against damage, financial and cultural alike. 

California employers face one of the most complex training landscapes in the country. From harassment prevention to workplace safety, the list of legally required trainings continues to grow. At the same time, there are several recommended trainings that, while not yet mandated, can dramatically reduce lawsuits and strengthen workplace culture. 

The question isn’t just “What’s required?” The smarter question is: What’s worth it? 

Why California Requires Certain Trainings (And What That Teaches Us) 

California lawmakers don’t mandate training out of bureaucracy—they respond to stories of where poor policy or no training caused real harm. Harassment prevention training emerged after supervisors repeatedly mishandled or ignored complaints, costing companies both money and morale, and causing their people incredible pain and discomfort. For employers with five or more staff, the law now requires supervisors to complete two hours of harassment training—and employees one hour—within six months of being hired. 

The training must be repeated every two years. 

The requirement for a workplace violence prevention plan and related workplace violence prevention training, effective since July 1, 2024, was driven by tragic incidents like the San Jose rail yard shooting. Now, nearly all California employers must create a written prevention plan, maintain a violent incident log, and train employees in hazard recognition and response. 

And let’s not forget Cal/OSHA’s broader safety mandate: Whether it’s chemical handling or equipment use, employers must train employees to identify and mitigate hazards promptly. 

These training requirements exist because the consequences of neglect can be devastating for employees and businesses alike. 

The state doesn’t pass training laws arbitrarily. Each required training reflects a real-world risk where employers have historically failed to self-police, leaving workers vulnerable and businesses exposed. 

Required Compliance Training in California 

Currently, the following training is required by the State of California: 

Core Statewide Training Mandates (Most Employers) 

• Harassment Prevention training (AB 1825 / AB 2053): Enacted after decades of harassment litigation and public settlements, California requires formal, recurring harassment prevention training for both supervisors and non-supervisory employees at employers with five or more workers. 

• Workplace Violence Prevention training (SB 553): Passed following a series of workplace assaults, including the 2021 San Jose VTA shooting, this law requires covered employers to implement a workplace violence prevention plan and train employees on recognizing, preventing, and responding to violent incidents. 

• Injury & Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) training: Adopted after Cal/OSHA investigations repeatedly found that untrained employees were a primary cause of workplace injuries, this mandate requires safety training tied to an employer’s written IIPP. 

Hazard-Triggered Cal/OSHA Training Requirements 

These are required only if the hazard, condition, or task exists: 

• Hazard Communication/Chemical Safety training: Created after chemical exposures and poisonings revealed workers often had no knowledge of the substances they handled or the risks involved. 

• Heat Illness Prevention (outdoor workers) training: Enacted following worker deaths and hospitalizations during extreme heat events, particularly in agriculture, construction, and delivery work. 

• Wildfire Smoke Protection training: Implemented as wildfire seasons intensified, recognizing smoke exposure as a recurring occupational health hazard for many California workers. 

• Respiratory Protection training: Required after regulators found that issuing respirators without proper training created a false sense of protection and increased injury risk. 

• Bloodborne Pathogens training: Instituted to protect healthcare, custodial, and emergency workers after documented occupational transmission of serious diseases. 

Industry-Specific Standalone Mandates 

• Healthcare Workplace Violence Prevention: Created after escalating assaults on nurses and clinical staff showed that general safety rules were insufficient in healthcare environments. 
• Aerosol Transmissible Disease (ATD) training: Adopted following tuberculosis, SARS, and COVID-19 outbreaks where workplace exposure risks were severe and systemic. 

• Food Safety training (food handler/food safety manager): Required after repeated foodborne illness outbreaks traced to improper handling and lack of basic hygiene training. 

• Responsible Beverage Service (RBS): Implemented statewide after alcohol-related injuries and fatalities demonstrated that untrained servers increased public safety risks. 

Public Protection / Special Duty Mandates (When Applicable) 

• Mandated Reporter training: Enacted after investigations revealed widespread failures to report abuse and neglect by legally designated professionals. 

• Human Trafficking Awareness training: Required for specific industries after California identified trafficking as a pervasive issue occurring in plain sight without employee awareness. 

When Voluntary Training Becomes a Strategic Shield 

While the list above is comprehensive, not all risks have made it into California’s statutes. But that doesn’t mean they’re any less costly for employers. 

Take wage and hour compliance. California doesn’t mandate a training course for managers, but these claims make up the bulk of employment lawsuits in the state. 

Consider a midsize tech startup caught off guard by a multimillion-dollar wage and hour settlement. Perhaps they didn't train managers on things like tracking hours accurately or preventing off-the-clock work, or they let employees take short or combined breaks. There’s many ways to violate wage and hour laws in California, all of which can lead to a costly lawsuit. 

In fact, wage and hour claims now dwarf many other employment issues in California, with reported settlements ranging from several million to over five million dollars. 

• Since 2020, wage and hour class actions cost California employers an average of $250,000 for every 50 employees. 

• The most common mistakes? Missed meal breaks, unpaid overtime, and off-the-clock work; all issues supervisors could avoid with proper training. 

Another example is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training. While optional, DEI programs reduce bias-driven claims and turnover. One tech employer reported a 40% reduction in employee complaints after introducing DEI and anti-bias training modules, even though no law required it. 

These types of voluntary compliance training aren’t about legal obligation, they’re about protecting a business from its own blind spots. Training isn’t overhead, it’s insurance. 

The Cost of Not Training: Scenarios That Play Out in Real Life 

Scenario 1: The Missed Meal Break 

Imagine a restaurant manager regularly asks servers to “just finish this table” before taking their break. Clearly, no one ever trained the manager on California’s strict meal period rules. Six months later, when a group of employees files a PAGA claim, the employer faces $250,000+ in penalties, all because of a lack of training. 

Scenario 2: The Unreported Harassment Complaint 

When a supervisor witnesses a joking comment with sexual undertones but brushes it off, it’s because no one ever trained him that he had a duty to act. When the comment escalates into a harassment complaint, and the company is accused of failing to prevent and correct unlawful conduct, a preventable training failure now becomes a six-figure lawsuit. 

Scenario 3: The Avoidable Injury 

You’ve heard the stories: A warehouse worker misuses a forklift, injuring another employee. The employer had never provided Cal/OSHA-required equipment training. The result? An injured worker, a serious OSHA citation, and higher workers’ comp premiums for years to come. 

The pattern is clear: A few hours of training could have prevented millions in exposure. 

Risk-Reward Analysis: Which Trainings Deliver the Most Value 

When California compliance training is evaluated by legal exposure avoided per training hour, the stack typically ranks as follows: 

• Wage & Hour Training (Recommended, not mandated): Highest ROI. Wage-and-hour violations drive the most lawsuits, the largest settlements, and the highest PAGA exposure. Training must be California-specific to be effective. 

• Harassment Prevention (Required): High ROI. Universally required for employers with five or more employees, and one of the fastest ways to reduce discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims that damage both finances and reputation. 

• Workplace Violence Prevention (Required): High ROI. A newly enforced mandate with strict plan-and-training requirements; noncompliance carries immediate regulatory risk and significant liability if incidents occur. 

• Cal/OSHA Safety Training (Required when triggered): Variable ROI. Critical in construction, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and field operations; lower risk exposure for low-hazard office environments but still legally mandatory when hazards exist. 

• Industry-Specific Mandates (Required when applicable): Targeted ROI. Training such as food safety, healthcare violence prevention, ATD, or RBS delivers high value in regulated industries but is irrelevant outside those contexts. 

The highest-value compliance programs layer required training on top of the most common sources of lawsuits, rather than treating all training as equal. Smart employers prioritize wage & hour education, then ensure mandatory California training courses are airtight, and finally add role-specific safety modules only where legally triggered. 

Federal Training Requirements vs. California 

At the federal level, the U.S. generally does not mandate specific employee training programs across industries. Instead, it issues broad standards: 

• EEOC: Requires employers to prevent and correct harassment and discrimination but doesn’t mandate a training course. 

• OSHA: Requires safety training, but state agencies like Cal/OSHA often expand and enforce it more aggressively. 

• FLSA (Wage & Hour): Requires compliance with minimum wage and overtime rules but doesn’t require training for managers on how to follow them. 

California is Unique 

Instead of leaving compliance to chance, California mandates training in areas like harassment, workplace violence, and mandated reporter rules. The philosophy is: Don’t just prohibit the conduct—teach people how to avoid it. 

California, however, does not mandate wage and hour training. Instead, California has incentivized employers to roll out wage and hour training by offering reduced penalties in wage and hour lawsuits for employers who comply (learn more in our article, Slash Your PAGA Exposure: Using “Reasonable Steps” to Reduce Penalties). 

California Compliance Training vs. Other States 

You might be wondering, how does California stack up against other states? 

• California: Requires harassment training for 5+ employees, workplace violence prevention, human trafficking awareness, mandated reporter, and a wide range of OSHA training. 

• New York: Requires harassment prevention training for all employees annually (more frequent than California’s every two years). 

• Connecticut, Delaware, Maine: All have harassment training mandates, but they are narrower in scope. 

• Illinois: Requires harassment training, but the curriculum is less prescriptive than California’s. 

• Most states: Do not require harassment, wage and hour, or violence prevention training. 

California and New York lead the nation in mandated training, while most other states stick to federal baselines, leaving training optional. 

The Bottom Line for California Employers 

California employers need to be aware of which training is required, which training is optional, and which training they should utilize to educate their employees, maintain a consistent, compliant culture, and reduce the risk of lawsuits. 

Required training keeps you compliant and avoids automatic penalties. Recommended training prevents the lawsuits most likely to hit your business. And the smartest investment is wage and hour training. Even though California doesn’t mandate it, it’s the single biggest risk area and the easiest to fix with proactive education. 

Proactive training is always cheaper than reactive litigation. The best California employers don’t just ask, “What’s required?” they ask, “what’s worth it?” 

👉 Learn more about our Wage & Hour Training 

This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. California’s meal and rest break laws are complex and vary by industry and workforce. Consult an experienced employment attorney for guidance tailored to your business. Cal Comply is a paid training provider mentioned for illustrative purposes; other compliance resources are available.