California Harassment Policy Template: Required Elements and Distribution

If you need a California harassment policy template, the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) publishes a free sample equal employment opportunity and harassment prevention policy you can download and adapt.¹ The template is a starting framework with placeholder language; it only becomes a compliant policy once you fill in your organization’s complaint contacts, reporting channels, and investigation procedures and confirm every element required by 2 CCR section 11023 is present.

Where to Download the Official Template

The CRD hosts the sample policy as a PDF on its website, alongside posters, fact sheets, and employer guides on its publications page.² Nothing requires you to use the CRD version specifically. You can draft from scratch or adapt a third-party template, but whatever document you end up with must contain every required element described below. The CRD sample is the safest starting point because it already covers the structure the regulations expect.

A template out of the box is not a finished policy. Generic placeholder language will not identify your complaint contacts, will not reflect your industry’s third-party exposure, and may lag behind the current protected categories list. Treat the download as the first step, not the last.

Required Elements Your Policy Must Contain

Title 2, California Code of Regulations, section 11023 sets the content checklist for every written harassment prevention policy in the state. A policy that misses any of these elements is not compliant, and an incomplete policy can hurt you more than no policy would, because it shows awareness of the obligation without follow-through.³

At minimum, your written policy must:

List every protected category currently recognized under FEHA, not only the well-known ones.
State that harassment by coworkers, supervisors, managers, and third parties such as clients, vendors, or contractors is prohibited.
Establish a complaint process that ensures confidentiality to the extent possible, a timely response, an impartial and timely investigation by qualified personnel, documentation and progress tracking, appropriate remedial actions when misconduct is confirmed, and timely closure.
Give employees at least one reporting avenue that does not require going through their immediate supervisor. Acceptable options include a designated company representative, a complaint hotline, an ombudsperson, or identification of the CRD and EEOC as external reporting agencies.
Instruct supervisors that they are required to forward any complaint of misconduct to a designated company representative, such as a human resources manager, so the company can attempt to resolve the issue internally.

Protected Categories You Have to Name

The policy must list every protected category currently recognized under FEHA. Omitting even an obscure one creates a gap an employee or the CRD can point to. As of 2026, the full list is:

Race and color
Ancestry and national origin
Religion and creed
Age (40 and over)
Physical disability and mental disability
Sex, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and related medical conditions)
Sexual orientation
Gender identity and gender expression
Medical condition
Genetic information
Marital status
Military or veteran status
Reproductive health decision-making

This list comes from the CRD’s employment page and matches the categories in Government Code section 12940.⁴⁵ California has expanded the list several times, so review it annually and update your policy whenever the Legislature adds a new category.

Building Out the Complaint Process

The complaint process section is where most employer policies fall short. A vague instruction to “report issues to HR” does not satisfy the regulation. The written procedure needs to reflect each of the six elements the regulation requires: confidentiality to the extent possible, timely response, impartial and timely investigation by qualified personnel, documentation and tracking, appropriate remedial action, and timely closure.³

Identify by name and title the individuals who will receive complaints, with direct contact information. Email, phone, and office location all belong in the policy itself so employees do not have to hunt for them. Then describe the alternate reporting channel. The harasser and the direct supervisor are sometimes the same person, which is why the regulation requires a second path. A hotline, an ombudsperson, a different manager, or the external route to the CRD or EEOC all qualify.

Spell out what happens when an investigation confirms misconduct. Remedial action has to be proportional to the conduct. For a stray comment that made a coworker uncomfortable, counseling may suffice. More serious findings typically require formal discipline. Government Code section 12940(k) requires employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent and correct harassing behavior, and that duty shapes what counts as an adequate response.⁵

Third-Party Conduct Must Be Covered

Your policy cannot stop at coworker-on-coworker conduct. California law holds employers responsible for harassment by nonemployees — customers, vendors, contractors, delivery drivers — when the employer knows or should have known and fails to take immediate corrective action. The statute instructs courts to consider the extent of the employer’s control over the nonemployee and any other legal responsibility the employer has regarding that person’s conduct.⁵

The written policy should state explicitly that the harassment prohibition covers interactions with third parties. Employees dealing with abusive clients need to know they can report that behavior and that the company will act on it. Industry shapes this section. A restaurant, a medical office, and a construction company each face different third-party risks, and the policy should reflect the kinds of outside contacts your workers regularly encounter.

Information to Gather Before You Customize

A template only becomes useful once you plug in details specific to your organization. Before you start editing, pull together:

Designated complaint contacts: names, titles, phone numbers, and email addresses for at least two people authorized to receive and investigate complaints. One contact alone creates problems when that person is unavailable or is the subject of the complaint.
Reporting channels: whether you offer a hotline, an email address, a physical drop-box, an online portal, or some combination. More accessible channels get used more often.
Investigation procedure: who conducts investigations, how they are documented, and the general timeline for completion. Setting an internal target, such as initiating an inquiry within five business days, demonstrates commitment and manages expectations.
Remedial action framework: the range of corrective measures available, from counseling and mandatory training through reassignment, suspension, or termination. Listing these in the policy shows employees that complaints lead to real consequences.
External agency information: current phone numbers and website addresses for the CRD and the EEOC so employees know their options for filing externally.

Review this information at least annually, and update it immediately whenever a designated contact changes roles or leaves the company.

Distributing the Policy

Writing the policy is half the job. Section 11023 lists several acceptable delivery methods: printing and distributing a copy with a signed acknowledgment form; sending it by email with an acknowledgment return; posting current versions on a company intranet with a tracking system confirming each employee has read and acknowledged it; discussing it during new-hire orientation; or any other method that ensures employees receive and understand it.³ Whichever route you choose, keep proof of distribution. Signed acknowledgment forms or digital confirmation logs belong in personnel files.

Translation Threshold

If 10 percent or more of your workforce at any facility speaks a language other than English as their primary spoken language, you must translate the policy into every language that meets that 10 percent threshold.³ This is easy to overlook in workplaces where English is the default language of management. Skipping translation means a significant portion of your workforce never meaningfully received the policy, which undermines any defense you might raise later.

The Separate Information Sheet Requirement

The written prevention policy is not the only document the state expects you to hand out. Government Code section 12950 separately requires every employer to distribute the CRD’s sexual harassment information sheet, or an equivalent document covering the same topics, to each employee.⁶ A homegrown version must cover at least eight topics: the illegality of sexual harassment, its legal definition, a description with examples, the employer’s internal complaint process, the legal remedies and complaint process available through the CRD, directions on how to contact the CRD, protection against retaliation, and a link to the CRD’s free online training courses.

The statute requires delivery in a manner that ensures each employee actually receives the document, such as including it with a paycheck. Many employers distribute it alongside the prevention policy during onboarding, which satisfies both obligations at once. The CRD publishes the official information sheet in multiple languages on its publications page.²

Why a Deficient Policy Is Expensive

The real cost of a weak policy shows up when a harassment claim lands on your desk or in court. Government Code section 12940(k) requires employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment and discrimination.⁵ A compliant written policy is core evidence that you met that duty. Without one, you lose your strongest defense.

The CRD accepts complaints when it believes an employer has not complied with training and education requirements, and the Department can independently seek preventive remedies for a violation of the duty to prevent harassment, even without an underlying finding that harassment actually occurred.³ In litigation, the absence of a compliant policy turns a defensible case into an expensive settlement. Juries notice when an employer could not be bothered to put the rules in writing.

1
California Civil Rights Department. CRD Sample EEO Policy
2
California Civil Rights Department. Posters, Guides and Fact Sheets
3
Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations 2 CCR 11023 – Harassment and Discrimination Prevention and Correction
4
California Civil Rights Department. Employment
5
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12940 – Unlawful Practices
6
California Legislative Information. California Code Government Code GOV 12950