What Is California Labor Code §6401.9: Workplace Violence Prevention Plan?

An employer shall establish, implement, and maintain an effective workplace violence prevention plan.

What does Labor Code 6401.9 actually require?

It requires nearly every California employer to adopt a written plan that spells out how the company will stop, report, and respond to violence at work.

Lawmakers passed this rule as Senate Bill 553. It took effect on January 1, 2024, and the actual duty to have a plan, train staff, and keep records became operative on July 1, 2024. The statute defines workplace violence broadly: a stranger who comes in to commit a crime, a customer or patient who turns violent, a coworker or supervisor, and even a person outside the job, such as a partner, who threatens or harms an employee at work. A lawful act of self defense is not workplace violence under this law.

The rule applies to almost every employer, employee, and job site in California, including housing an employer provides. A short list of workplaces, covered below, follow a different safety plan instead.

What must the written plan cover?

The plan must name who runs it, explain how staff can report violence safely, and lay out how the employer will respond to an emergency.

Section 6401.9 lists the exact pieces every plan needs. At a minimum, it must set out:

• The names or job titles of the people in charge of the plan
• How employees and their representatives help build and run the plan
• A way for a worker to report a threat or incident to the employer or to the police without fear of punishment
• Steps to identify and fix hazards, including regular walkthroughs
• An emergency response plan, including how to alert staff and when to call security or the police
• Training for every worker when the plan starts, and again every year

The plan can live inside the employer's existing written injury and illness prevention program, or stand on its own. Either way, it must be in writing, and every employee and their representative must be able to see it at any time.

Which workplaces are exempt from this specific section?

A narrow list of workplaces, mostly ones that already follow a different state safety plan, do not have to meet this exact rule.

Six kinds of employers sit outside section 6401.9, though the division can still pull any of them back in by special order:

• Health care facilities and services already covered by a separate Title 8 health care violence rule
• Any employer that instead complies with that same health care rule
• State prison facilities run by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that already follow the department's own safety plan
• Certain law enforcement agencies that meet a separate state training standard
• An employee who works entirely from a home or location the employer does not control
• A worksite with fewer than 10 workers at a time that the public cannot enter, if it already follows the general injury and illness prevention plan

Outside these six groups, the law reaches employers of every size, including small businesses that serve the public.

What is the violent incident log, and how long do records last?

Every employer covered by this law must log each violent incident, and keep that log and related records for years, not months.

After any workplace violence, the employer records the date, time, and place, what type of violence it was, who was involved, and what happened next. The law tells the employer to leave out anything that would reveal who was hurt, such as a name or address. The retention clock then runs:

• The violent incident log: at least 5 years
• Records of hazards found and fixed, and of any incident investigation: at least 5 years
• Training records: at least 1 year

An employee or their representative can ask to see most of these records and must receive them within 15 calendar days, at no cost.

How does this law connect to a workers' compensation claim?

Workers' comp pays for a workplace violence injury without regard to whether the employer followed this statute; the law mainly gives you proof and a paper trail.

California workers' compensation is a no-fault system. You do not have to show your employer broke section 6401.9 to have a covered claim for an assault or attack at work. Being hurt by violence on the job is its own separate question, and in most cases the injury is covered the same as any other work accident. What section 6401.9 adds is a record: a plan, a log, and witness and training documents you can point to later. A separate statute, Labor Code 6400, sets the broader duty to keep any workplace safe, and Labor Code 4553 only raises your comp award if the employer's own serious and willful misconduct caused the injury, a separate and harder question from basic coverage.

What should you do if your employer ignored a violence report or has no plan?

Report the problem in writing, ask for a copy of the plan, and keep your own notes and dates.

Ask your employer for a copy of its written plan; the law says you are entitled to see it. If your employer never answers, or you believe staff are at real risk, you can tell Cal/OSHA what is going on; the division can keep your name private, inspect the workplace, and cite the employer. Retaliation for making that report is its own separate violation, covered by Labor Code 6310. If you were hurt, write down the date, time, and what happened as soon as you safely can, get the names of any witnesses, and see a doctor. None of this changes the normal deadline to report a work injury to your employer or to open a workers' compensation claim.

If violence at work hurt you, or you are worried your employer has no real plan, you do not have to sort this out alone. Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form to describe what happened. Eman Yazdchi reviews each matter individually before any case moves forward.