What Productions Should Know About Harassment Prevention Requirements

Here is what productions should know about sexual harassment training requirements by state and locality for California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, New York, Washington D.C., and Washington.

California

• California law currently mandates that California-based supervisory employees employed by large employers (those with 50+ employees in and outside of California) are required to complete 2 hours of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training within 6 months of hire or within 6 months of being promoted into a managerial position, and to be trained every 2 years thereafter.
• California SB 1343 and SB 778 require that non-supervisory employees employed by large employers, as well as all employees employed by small employers (employers with five or more employees in California), need to complete sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training and retrained once every two years thereafter.

Additional details can be found in our Required California Harassment Prevention Training Latest Updates blog.

Connecticut

• Employers must provide two hours of training and education to new employees within six months of their start date.
• Employers are required to provide to a new employee a copy of information regarding the illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available to victims.
• Employers with fewer than three employees must provide two hours of training and education to all new supervisory employees within six months.
• Employers must provide periodic supplemental training not less than every ten years.
• Effective October 1, 2021: If an employee completed the state’s mandatory sexual harassment prevention training while employed by a different employer within two years of their hire date, an employer can consider such prior training to satisfy the training requirement. More info here.

More information, including FAQs, posters, and training, can be found on the ct.gov website.

Delaware

• Employers with 50 or more employees in Delaware must train new employees within a year of their start date and every two years after that.
• Employers must also provide additional interactive training to new supervisors within one year of their start date and every two years after that.
• Each employer must distribute the Department of Labor’s Sexual Harassment Notice to each new employee upon commencement of employment.
• Employers are not required to provide training to: independent contractors, employees employed fewer than six months continuously and employees of employment agencies (the employment agency is responsible for training their employee).

For additional details, including downloadable Delaware Sexual Harassment Notices, visit the Delaware Department of Labor’s website.

Illinois

• Employers with one or more employees must provide sexual harassment prevention training to their employees.
• All employees regardless of their status (short-term, part-time, or intern) must be trained.
• Any employees who work, or will work, in Illinois must be trained regardless of whether the employer is based in Illinois. If an employee is based elsewhere but regularly interacts with other employees in Illinois, even if they are not physically present in Illinois, they should be trained.
• Employers are not required to train independent contractors. However, the IDHR advises that independent contractors receive training if they are working on-site at an employer’s workplace or interact with the employer’s workforce.
• Employers should provide training to new employees as soon as possible, within 30 days and annually thereafter.
• The Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) provides a model training program that employers may use as-is or to supplement their own training.
• Employers should keep an internal record of training compliance, which should be available for IDHR inspection upon request.

For more information on harassment prevention training and requirements, visit Illinois.gov.

Maine

• Employers with 15 or more employees are required to conduct an education and training program using the Maine Department of Labor Training Checklist for all new employees within one year of commencement of employment. 
• Employers are also required to conduct additional training for supervisory and managerial employees within one year of commencement of employment that includes, at a minimum, the specific responsibilities of supervisory and managerial employees and methods that these employees must take to ensure immediate and appropriate corrective action in addressing sexual harassment complaints.
• Employers must keep a record of the training, including employees receiving the training for at least three years.
• Each employer is required to display in a prominent and accessible location in the workplace a poster providing, at a minimum, the following:
• A statement that sexual harassment is illegal.
• A description of sexual harassment, with examples.
• The complaint process available through the Maine Human Rights Commission.
• Directions on how to contact the commission.
• Employers are required to annually provide all employees with an individual written notice. The notice must be delivered in a manner that reaches all employees without exception, such as including the notice with an employee’s paycheck. The notice must include:
• A statement of the illegality of sexual harassment.
• The definition of sexual harassment under state law; a description of sexual harassment, with examples.
• The internal complaint process available to the employee.
• The legal recourse and complaint process available through the Maine Human Rights Commission; directions on how to contact the commission.
• The protection against retaliation.

Learn more about Maine’s harassment prevention education and training resources here.

New York

• All employers, regardless of size, with one or more employees (no minimum-hour requirement) performing work in the state must provide training that meets the state’s published standards.
• New York City also requires employers to conduct training annually.
• All New York employers must adopt and distribute a sexual harassment prevention policy in writing and provide interactive sexual harassment prevention training to all employees. To assist employers, the state provides compliant materials including a model policy, training materials, poster, and complaint form, which can all be found here.
• Employers are encouraged but not required to complete and post the Sexual Harassment Prevention Poster in a conspicuous location in the workplace. 
• If you’re an employer in New York City, you must also provide to the employee at the time of hire, a written notice of their rights under the Human Rights Law. The NYCCHR provides the Stop Sexual Harassment Act Factsheet to fulfill this requirement.

Additional details can be found in our New York Harassment Prevention Training Latest Updates blog.

Washington, D.C.

• Employees must receive in-person training or online training within 90 days of hire, unless they participated in training in the past two years.
• Managers must attend in-person training at least once every two years.
• Employees, managers, owners or operators that participate in training from an OHR-certified provider must submit a certification of completion of the required training to the OHR within 30 business days of completion.

Additional details on harassment prevention training and requirements can be found on DC.gov.

Washington

• The law requires covered employers to provide mandatory training to managers, supervisors, and employees.
• The law defines employees as individuals employed as janitors, security guards, hotel or motel housekeepers, or room service attendants who also either:
  • Spend a majority of their working hours alone; or
  • Have a primary work responsibility that involves working without another coworker present.
• The Washington State Human Rights Commission encourages all employers and employees to complete workplace harassment prevention training. 
• Property services contractors are subject to specific recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

See the Washington Department of Labor and Industries website for more information about required training.

Sexual Harassment Prevention Training Resources

GreenSlate offers an in-app training module to help productions assign, manage, and track state-compliant sexual harassment prevention training.

For the latest news and updates, subscribe to our newsletter and blog.

For employers nationwide, the following resources can provide guidance on how to draft and implement sexual harassment prevention communication and training within your organization.

Clear Law Institute

4601 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 1200

Arlington, VA 22203

info@clearlawinstitute.com

Contact: Justin Sikora: 865-824-1255, jsikora@clearlawinstitute.com

NAVEX Global: The Ethics and Compliance Experts

6000 Meadows Road, Suite 200

Lake Oswego, OR 97035

www.navexglobal.com

Contact: Brett Arnold: (503) 601-4954, barnold@navexglobal.com

Interactive Business Inclusion Solutions

205 Newbury Street, Suite 201

Framingham, MA 01701

www.ibisconsultinggroup.com

Contact: (508) 283-1423, info@ibisconsultinggroup.com

Kantola Productions, LLC

55 Sunnyside Ave

Mill Valley, CA 94941

www.kantola.com

Contact: (800) 280-1180, info@kantola.com

Syntrio

500 Lake Cook Road, Suite 350

Deerfield, IL 60015

www.syntrio.com

Contact: (415) 951-7913, https://www.syntrio.com/contact-us/

Have Questions or Want to Learn More?

If you have any questions about sexual harassment prevention training requirements, please contact us.

Last updated date: 11.14.23. This information in this communication is general in nature, and is not intended, nor should it be construed, as legal, accounting, tax or other professional advice rendered by GreenSlate, LLC. The reader should contact his or her attorney, CPA, or tax professional prior to taking any action based upon this information.