Sexual harassment training must be for the big companies and government organizations only, right? Wrong!
A new law in California requires that all organizations with 5 or more employees must provide mandatory training to all managers and all employees. Managers are required to take a legally certified class lasting 2 hours. All other employees must take a certified class lasting 1 hour.
The new California law is SB 1343. This law requires that all employees complete the required training classes before the end of 2019. If your managers or employees were trained in 2018 or before they must receive the training again in 2019. The laws dealing with the various forms of harassment and sexual harassment training in particular seem to be changing on regular basis. The safest solution as a corporate representative is to ensure that all employees receive training every two years, at least.
In the state of Connecticut all employers with 50 or more employees must provide two hours of training to all supervisors within six months of appointment to that position.
The state of Delaware requires that all employers with 50 or more employees must provide interactive training on sexual harassment prevention by December 31, 2019.
The District of Columbia requires that businesses employing workers who receive tips must train all employees about how to respond to, intervene in, and prevent sexual harassment by co-workers, management, and patrons.
In the state of Maine all employers with 15 or more employees must train all employees.
In Mississippi, the Governor has issued an Executive Order stating that all state employees are required to take an online training course.
In New York State every employer is required to provide employees with training designed to prevent harassment by October 9, 2019 and then continue to offer it annually thereafter.
As of April 1, 2019 New York City requires companies that have 15 or more employees to provide interactive training annually. The New York law includes both full-time and part-time employees who worked as little as 80 hours and 90 days in a calendar year.
In Nevada, all state employees are required to take a certified harassment class within six months of assuming their position; additionally, they must take a refresher course every 2 years.
In New Jersey, training is not required for private sector employees. However, in 2002 the New Jersey Supreme Court found that state courts should take into consideration whether or not an employer made training available to supervisors and all employees when deciding whether or not an employer had been negligent in preventing sexual harassment under state law.
In North Carolina, all state agencies are required to develop a plan for workplace harassment. That plan must include training and other methods to educate all state employees.
In Pennsylvania, online training is required for all state employees.
In Texas, all state agencies must provide discrimination training for all employees that includes sexual harassment by the 30th day of their employment and supplemental training every two years.
Utah’s Department of Human Resource Management Rules dictate that every state employer must provide sexual harassment training for all state employees.
In Virginia, every legislative branch employee must take online training once every two years.
In the state of Washington, all state employees must take sexual harassment training per Executive Order.
If your organization was not included in the list above you should not assume you are safe. The direction for all legislators in the United States is clear. Most states encourage employers to provide training, at a bare minimum. Many states across the nation are considering new laws requiring some form of interactive training.
The safest and wisest decision you can make for your organization is to provide the appropriate training for all employees at your earliest opportunity. And, regular refresher courses should be offered on a regularly scheduled basis.
In most places across the US the class can be a live, classroom style training. Of course, this can be challenging when you have people who travel often like salespeople. Or, the training can be a more flexible, online class that may be downloaded and completed anytime, anywhere. Some online training classes with certain LMS’ (Learning Management System) allow the class to be downloaded to a laptop, tablet or smartphone and be completed even on an airplane. The completion of the class is then uploaded to the server so the employee can receive a certification that they have completed the course.
So, if you have salespeople who travel for a living, trainers out in the field, or people in remote offices you may find it beneficial to use an online training program.
HFC (Harassment Free Culture) training is the best online training you can provide your company because it:
- Has engaging and relatable videos viewable anytime, anywhere; do some in the office, some in the airport or on the plane (LMS permitting);
- Exceeds legal requirements of all fifty US states; and,
- Is provided at a great price.
For more information, email Mike@Accelerate-LD.com.
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