Sexual Harassment Prevention Training for Companies and Employees

Update 2020: Harassment Prevention Training – US Legal Requirements

Harassment prevention continues to be an important topic in 2020. California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, New York City, and New York State, all currently have sexual harassment prevention training initiatives and we anticipate that other states and cities will implement requirements in 2020.

Harassment prevention legislation has included required postings in the workplace, notices to employees, thorough harassment prevention policies, and harassment prevention training for both employees and supervisors.

Illinois has a new training requirement effective January 1, 2020, and Rhode Island, Vermont, and Massachusetts strongly recommend training.

Employers should make sure their business follows all applicable anti-harassment regulations and best practices to create a work environment where all employees feel safe and supported.

This helps businesses remain compliant while fostering a positive workplace culture. An HR professional or professional employer organization can be essential in helping design and implement an effective anti-harassment program.

Here are the requirements for each state where the anti-harassment prevention training is mandatory:

California Legal Requirements

California continues to be at the forefront of workplace harassment legislation. Senate Bill 1343 requires employers with five or more workers to provide sexual harassment training to all employees by January 1, 2021, and then at every two years.

For employers with five or more employees, the law requires that:

Supervisory employees must complete at least two hours of classroom or online interactive training and education on sexual harassment prevention.
New supervisors must be trained within six months of taking a supervisory position.
Nonsupervisory employees must complete at least one hour of classroom or online training and education and new nonsupervisory employees must be trained within six months.
Temporary and seasonal employees – or any employee hired to work less than 6 months – must also be trained within 30 calendar days after their hire date or within 100 hours worked, whichever comes first.
Employees and supervisors who were trained in 2019 must be retrained in two years.
Employers must keep records of the training for a minimum of two years.

Connecticut Legal Requirements

Connecticut’s new law, the Time’s Up Act, went into effect on October 1, 2019. It applies to all employers, regardless of the size of their workforce. Under the new law:

All Connecticut employers must train supervisors on sexual harassment prevention by October 1, 2020, or within six months of an employee assuming a supervisory role.
Organizations with three or more employees must provide two hours of training to all employees, not just supervisors. The previous requirement only applied to employers with 50 or more employees and mandated that only supervisors be trained.
Existing employees must take the training by October 1, 2020, and then, at least every 10 years.

Delaware Legal Requirements

Employers with 50 or more employees are required to provide interactive training and education to all employees by December 31, 2019. In addition, for covered employers, the law requires that:

All new employees and supervisors must be trained within one year of hire, and then every two years.
Supervisors must receive additional training on their responsibilities to prevent and correct sexual harassment and retaliation, and also be retrained every two years.
All employers, regardless of the size of their workforce, must distribute the Department of Labor’s Sexual Harassment Notice to each new employee.

Illinois Legal Requirements

The Workplace Transparency Act goes into effect on January 1, 2020. Under the new law:

All Illinois employers, regardless of size, must provide annual sexual harassment prevention training to all employees.
Restaurants and bars must have sexual harassment prevention training and policies tailored to the restaurant and bar industry.
Employers are not required to train independent contractors but are strongly advised to train independent contractors who will work on-site at the employer’s workplace or interact with the employer’s staff.
Any employee who will perform work or regularly interact with the employer’s employees in Illinois should be trained, even if based in another state.

New York State – Legal Requirements

Starting October 2019, all New York employers must provide annual sexual harassment training to all employees and supervisors − including part-time, seasonal and temporary workers. Another significant change for 2020 is that employees are no longer required to prove that alleged sexual harassment was “severe or pervasive” in order to hold perpetrators and employers accountable. New York requires that:

New employees must be trained as soon as possible after their start date.
Training is interactive, requiring some level of employee participation and may be web-based.
Employers should provide training in the language spoken by their employees.
Employers are encouraged to keep a copy of training records and a signed acknowledgment that employees have read the organization’s sexual harassment prevention policy.

New York City Legal Requirements

NY state’s anti-harassment laws apply to all New York employers, however, New York City organizations with 15 or more employees have additional requirements under the Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act. For employers with 15 or more employees, NYC requires that:

Training covers bystander intervention and retaliation.
Training includes information on the complaint process available through the NYC Commission on Human Rights, the New York State Division of Human Rights and the EEOC.
Training records be kept for a minimum of three years.

Maine Legal Requirements

Maine State requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide anti-harassment training to all employees within one year of hire. In addition, for covered employees, the law requires that:

Supervisory and managerial employees must receive additional training on their specific responsibilities to address sexual harassment complaints within one year of their hire or promotion.
Employers must keep training records for at least three years and must make the records available for inspection upon request.

What is sexual harassment training?

As of October 2018, New York requires all employers to provide sexual harassment prevention training for companies with employees located in the state. Employees include exempt and non-exempt employees, part-time workers, seasonal workers, and temporary workers. Employees need to be provided with the policy, ideally before they start work, and provide training upon hire. Employers need to provide sexual harassment training on a yearly basis.

Sexual harassment includes a quid pro quo, which is the exchange of a job benefit for a sexual favor. It can also include a hostile work environment, which is unwelcome conduct or comments based on a protected class characteristic. It is important for employees and supervisors to recognize sexual harassment in order to prevent it from happening in the workplace.

What should this training offer?

The training should include information about sexual harassment and the complaint process. Employers can provide on-site and online training, provided they meet the minimum requirements. If the training is web-based, it needs to include questions for employees to answer before they can move on. Employees also need an option to submit a question online and receive a response in a timely manner. For live training, the presenter needs to ask questions and give employees time to ask questions during the training. For any method, employees must have the opportunity to provide feedback after training through a feedback survey.

NYS legal requirements: Policy

Employers also need to create and distribute a sexual harassment policy to employees. The policy must include:

Examples of what would constitute unlawful sexual harassment.
Information about state and federal laws that deal with sexual harassment and remedies for victims.
A complaint form (the state has a model complaint form that employers can use).
The process for confidential investigations.
Inform employees about their rights.
State that sexual harassment is a form of misconduct and sanctions for employees who engage in it.
An anti-retaliation policy for those who make a complaint or participate in the investigation.

NYC legal requirements: Policy and training

In addition to state laws about anti-harassment training, New York City also has training requirements that went into effect as of April 2019 for employers with 15 or more employees. However, the requirements for both New York City and New York State are comparable. Workers in New York City can file a complaint with the NYC Commission on Human Rights if they believe they were sexually harassed.

Facts about sexual harassment

Sexual harassment can happen to anyone in the workplace. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to employers with 15 or more employees, but New York State provides additional protections, regardless of the size of the employer. Although there is a perception that sexual harassment only happens in limited situations, it can occur in a number of circumstances:

Both men and women can be victims of sexual harassment. The perpetrator and victim can be of the same sex or opposite sex.
The harasser can be a supervisor, coworkers, or non-employee (i.e. customers or someone who has access to the workplace).
The victim does not need to be the intended target of harassment. Anyone affected by the conduct can make a complaint.

Sexual harassment can include words, signs, jokes, pranks, unwanted advances, or trading job benefits for sexual favors. Employers are responsible for sexual harassment even when employees are not at the workplace. For example, when employees are traveling or when using their personal devices for work-related activities.

Tips for preventing workplace harassment and discrimination

Lawsuits are expensive for companies to fight and the bad press generated by a lawsuit can be detrimental to a company’s brand. Creating a culture where employees feel valued and that encourages good behavior from all employees can save companies time and money, not to mention the goodwill built among employees.

Companies in different industries have unique needs when it comes to training. The training offered through vendors or from the State of New York is a good starting point. However, companies should customize their training to make it relevant to their employee population and situations where they find themselves in uncomfortable situations. When employees can relate to the situation they are discussing, they are more likely to take the training seriously and benefit from it.

Training checklist

The law sets out certain requirements for companies to follow, including on-site and online training. Companies need to have a plan to train all employees in the state within one year of the law coming into effect. Some components companies should include in their sexual harassment prevention training:

A definition of what sexual harassment is.
Examples of what sexual harassment looks like.
An overview of state and federal law related to sexual harassment.
An overview of employees’ rights.
An overview of the complaint process the employer has set up.
Information about bystander intervention (NYC only).

The New York State Division of Human Rights has a model training available to employers to refer to. Employers can use this training, design their own, or use another program that is equivalent to the state-provided training. Employers must also provide a complaint form for employees to initiate investigations when a complaint it’s made.

Compliance with the law is essential. However, compliance will not eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. It is important for companies to create a culture that is supportive and encourages employees to act in positive ways.

Vantage Point’s Annual Training provides supervisors and employees with the essential skills to recognize and respond to abusive behavior and to create and sustain a harassment-free workplace, through a fresh approach and user-friendly techniques. Get compliant now!

For more information please contact Mike Moncada: 516.599.2120 ext. 114 or mike@vantagepointbenefit.com.

Sexual Harassment Prevention Training for Companies and Employees