Thomson NETg Introduces New California Edition Sexual Harassment Prevention Curriculum

Learn Now e-Learning Courses Meets the Requirements of California’s Far-Reaching New Law

Scottsdale, AZ, 07/06/2005

Responding to the urgent need for companies doing business in the State of California to comply with new sexual harassment prevention standards, Thomson NETg, the leading provider of knowledge on demand to global enterprises and part of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC), has introduced a new offering to help organizations of all sizes comply with a recently-enacted law before its mandated January 2006 deadline.

On September 30, 2004, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 1825 into law. This legislation requires employers with 50 or more employees doing business in the State of California to provide at least two hours of sexual harassment training to all supervisory employees at least once every two years.

Because so many businesses are either headquartered or have substantial operations within California, the new law, which is among the most stringent in the country, is expected to have far-reaching impact nationwide. California’s new law sets forth its training standards through the following specific requirements:

* Employers must train all of their supervisory employees (as of July 1, 2005) by January 1, 2006 and retrain them every two years; new supervisors must be trained within six months of taking on supervisory duties.
* At least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment is required. It must include
* Information and practical guidance regarding federal and state law about the prevention, prohibition, and correction of sexual harassment, and the remedies available to victims.
* Practical training, education and examples aimed at instructing supervisors in the prevention of harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
* Trainers or educators with knowledge and expertise in the prevention of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation shall present training

To meet the requirements of California’s new law, Thomson NETg, together with the subject matter experts at the law firm of Perkins Coie, has leveraged its proven Learn Now instructional design and technology to produce compliant learning that is as effective as classroom training, but available from the desktop. This flexibility allows organizations to train their supervisors to the standards of the new government regulations without the expense of recreating a classroom environment.

“It is of the utmost importance for companies to meet requirements of California’s new regulations,” said David Ongaro, Esq., attorney and subject matter expert at Perkins Coie. “The curriculum we developed with Thomson NETg will help companies affected by the legislation to fulfill their obligation to train their supervisors in accordance with the law.”

Thomson NETg also enables its clients to deliver effective and engaging enterprise learning to geographically dispersed audiences at a much lower overall cost as compared with traditional classroom instruction. Fully integrated tracking and reporting features help learning administrators provide the verification of compliance with new government regulations that is needed.

“The impact of California’s new legislation on U.S. and other businesses is enormous in that compliance with the regulation is due in very short order – by January 2006,” said Joe Dougherty, President of Thomson NETg. “Because we now offer a conformant e-learning curriculum that meets California’s new sexual harassment prevention regulations for business, our clients will not only be able to deliver the required training quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively, but also be able to accurately document their compliance.”

This new curriculum is part of a currently available portfolio of more than 50 Regulatory Compliance Learn Now e-learning courses, which includes Business Code of Conduct and Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, OSHA, ADA, FMLA, and others, all of which may be augmented with instructional enhancements such as Reference Now e-reference books, Mentor Now and Job Aids Now. All NETg Learn Now self-paced e-learning courses are delivered by its powerful KnowledgeNet™ Web-based learning platform, which includes enterprise-class learning management tools that enable learning administrators to organize, track and report on comprehensive employee training and development initiatives.

For complete information regarding the new California Edition Sexual Harassment Prevention curriculum from Thomson NETg and its full Knowledge Now Suite of enterprise learning solutions, visit www.netg.com or call 1- 888-577-5779.

About The Thomson Corporation and Thomson NETg

The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2004 revenues of $8.10 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate e-learning and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson has approximately 40,000 employees and provides services in approximately 130 countries. The Corporation’s common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).

Thomson NETg (www.netg.com) delivers powerful knowledge on demand to the global enterprise, helping to align people, processes and priorities better than ever before. Our breadth and flexibility of knowledge resources, together with more than 35 years of enterprise empowerment experience, help organizations of all sizes to manage change, transform operations and exceed bottom-line expectations. Thomson NETg: Knowledge Now.

Contact Information

Adam Gaber

Senior Director, Public Relations

Thomson Learning

Contact via E-mail