Alcoholic Beverage Servers and RTS Training

Beginning July 1, 2022, California will require most servers of alcoholic beverages and their managers to complete a new training program, the Responsible Beverage Training (“RBS Training”). This requirement only applies to on-premises establishments that have been licensed by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (“ABC”), and the servers and managers at these qualified establishments must complete RBS training either by August 31, 2022, or within 60 days of being hired.

For purposes of completing RBS Training, an alcohol server is considered anyone who either takes customers’ alcohol orders, pours alcoholic beverages, delivers alcohol to customers, or checks customers’ identifications to deny them alcohol or entry into the establishment. Relatedly, managers are considered anyone who generally oversees, hires, or trains alcohol servers. Only those who train alcohol servers on how to perform their job duties are considered managers, as workers that train servers on topics like marketing and distributing are not considered to be managers under this definition.

To complete RBS training, these servers and managers must first log into the RBS Portal to access all the training materials and resources, which are administered by the ABC. Afterwards, they can begin the online training, which takes around two to four hours to complete. These workers would then be required to take an examination within thirty days after completing the online training and would have three attempts at passing it. Those that failed the exam on their third attempt or did not take the test within thirty days would be required to take an additional RBS training program before getting the opportunity to take the test again.

Once these workers pass the test, the ABC would then certify them for the next three years. These servers and managers would then have to recomplete this entire training process every three years in order to be recertified by the ABC.

The online training and examination must be completed by on-site alcohol servers and managers in California by August 31, 2022. It is highly recommended that these workers finish at least the online training by August 1 since that would allow them the full thirty days to complete the exam before the deadline on August 31.