New “Safe Harbor” Law Permits Employers to Address Worker Bias 

Effective this coming January 1, an employer will not be liable under the Fair Employment and Housing Act for in good faith seeking worker acknowledgment of personal bias as part of “bias mitigation training.” Government Code 12940.2

FEHA prohibits workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation over some 17 “protected classifications,” including race, gender and disability, empowering the Civil Rights Department to investigate and prosecute complaints.  The Act also requires certain employers to provide anti-harassment and abuse prevention training. Best practices include employer initiatives to educate workers on anti-discrimination protections whether or not explicitly required by law.

Section 12940.2 defines “bias mitigation training” broadly to include training, education, and activities aimed at understanding conscious and unconscious thought processes and their impacts, and requires “specific strategies” to mitigate personal biases (e.g., assessments, workshops, toolkits, tracking mitigation efforts).

The law aims to promote full employee participation in such training, providing “assurances to both employees and employers …  that the engagement necessary to make such trainings effective will not ultimately be used against them in a discrimination claim.”

Take Away:

A California employer should review policy and protocols to confirm the proper definition for its “bias mitigation trainings” and provide guidance that the protection applies only to good-faith acknowledgments of bias in the training context. Statements that admit or describe actual discriminatory acts remain fully usable in investigations and litigation.

For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

• Boundaries 101 – California’s Anti-Discrimination Legislation (August 1, 2025)
• Local Government Workplace Discrimination Laws Coming (November 15, 2024)
• 72 Million Reasons Not to Mess with Women: Employer Agrees to End Widespread Sex Discrimination (February 16, 2024)

Tim Bowles
December 5, 2025