City of Salinas
OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL • 200 Lincoln Avenue • Salinas, California 93901 SALINAS (831) 758-7201 • (831) 758-7368 (Fax) • www.ci.salinas.ca.us RICH IN LAND | RICH IN VALUES
September 16, 2020
Honorable Stephanie E. Hulsey
Judge of the Superior Court
240 Church Street
Salinas, CA 93901
Re: Response to 2019-2020 Monterey County Civil Grand Jury Report - "Sexual Harassment Prevention #TrainingCompliance"
Dear Judge Hulsey:
This letter is in response to the Monterey Civil Grand Jury Final Report - "Sexual Harassment Prevention #Training Compliance and pursuant to Penal Code section 933. The responses contained in this correspondence were approved by the City of Salinas City Council at its regular meeting on September 15, 2020.
GRAND JURY FINDINGS AND CITY COUNCIL RESPONSES:
F32: The city of Salinas HR Department should be recognized for its clear understanding of state requirements for AB 1825 supervisor training and its active and professional approach to that training for the city.
The City Council agrees with Finding 32.
F33: The city's AB 1825 compliance program is generally compliant with state requirements but is somewhat deficient in identifying and ensuring new supervisor six-month AB 1825 training compliance.
The City Council partially disagrees with Finding 33. Since approximately 2016, the Human Resources Department has utilized the Employee Event Tracking Module of the New World enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. This module specifically allows for the tracking of past and future events related to employee anniversaries, training, and performance reviews, among other things.
The investigation did not find that the City failed to identify any new supervisors for training; the investigation found that a limited number of employees did not complete training within six months of hire or promotion. The City does not attribute these limited instances to a failure of the City's tracking system. This was a result of the supervisor's inability to attend training as scheduled or failure to attend alternative training
F34: The City currently manages AB 1825 using the New World ERP system and using online vendors like Target Solutions. This dual systems approach is a point of potential failure in tracking.
The City Council disagrees with Finding 34. Prior to 2016, the City manually tracked supervisor training and coordinated in-person or online training. Since 2016, the City Attorney's Office has led in-person training, and the City has coordinated on-line training for those supervisors unable to attend in-person training. More recently, the City has utilized Target Solutions as a resource for online training and is considering online training recently offered by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Human Resources staff manually enters in-person and online training into the New World tracking system. The investigation did not reveal that these different methodologies resulted in any failure to appropriately track supervisor training.
F35: The city currently manages AB 1825 using the New World ERP system and HR records to generate notices for supervisors of required training. However, the Civil Grand Jury found there is insufficient senior management accountability or focus on the individual city supervisor employee to complete required training in a timely manner. Absent senior management emphasis, complete compliance or even high rates of compliance with AB 1825 training requirement may be difficult to achieve.
The City Council disagrees with Finding 35. City of Salinas management is fully committed to ensuring that City staff receive training as required and in a timely manner. The City disagrees that its management system impedes senior management accountability, but acknowledges that the management system can be enhanced to ensure further senior management accountability.
Additionally, staff believe that recommendation R23 is an appropriate step in demonstrating employee compliance with the City's effective training program and its management system (New World ERP).
R21: By June 30, 2021, the city of Salinas should automate the six-month new supervisor training signal for AB 1825 training. The City's HR Department should develop an automated HR noticing process that informs all newly hired or appointed supervisors of the six-month AB 1825 supervisor training requirement, and signals HR to (automated or manually) enter that training suspense in the New World ERP system.
This recommendation has not yet been implemented but will be implemented within the timeframe provided or sooner. City staff is currently exploring implementation in working with the City's IT Division to address the automation process.
R22: By June 30, 2022, the city should continue to advance HR integration and automation of training processes and functions. This should include (1) automated notices of "ticklers" to supervisors on AB 1825 training deadlines, (2) integrating online training records with the New World ERP system, and (3) routinely creating global city reports of compliance that can provide HR and senior city leadership with a comprehensive snapshot of AB 1825 training compliance by city supervisory personnel.
This recommendation has not yet been fully implemented but will be implemented within the timeframe provided or sooner. City staff is currently working with the City's IT Division to improve the automation process, so that online training is tracked automatically in the New World ERP system.
R23: By September 30, 2020 the city's senior management should adopt a stronger emphasis on promoting individual city supervisor employee responsibility to complete required training, including AB 1825 supervisor training, in a timely manner.
This recommendation has not yet been implemented but the City expects to implement a process by the Civil Grand Jury timeframe. The Human Resources Department is updating its new employee orientation and developing promotional orientation to include AB 1825 Sexual Harassment Prevention Training, and will be reporting progress to the City Manager. The City plans to utilize online training recently offered by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and continue utilizing Target Solutions training.
Respectfully submitted,
Christie Cromeenes
Mayor Pro Tem