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Am I required to give my employees sexual harassment training?
September 4, 2007

A handful of states have laws specifically requiring employers to provide sexual harassment training to certain employees, those states are noted below.

In addition, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, backed up by a number of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, states that all covered employers should provide anti-harassment training that covers all forms of prohibited harassment, not just sexual harassment. (Under federal law, for this purpose a covered employer is one that has 15 or more employees.)

The EEOC "Enforcement Guidance: Vicarious Employer Liability for Unlawful Harassment by Supervisors," provides the following:

"An employer should ensure that its supervisors and managers understand their responsibilities under the organization's anti-harassment policy and complaint procedure. Periodic training of those individuals can help achieve that result. Such training should explain the types of conduct that violate the employer's anti-harassment policy; the seriousness of the policy; the responsibilities of supervisors and managers when they learn of alleged harassment; and the prohibition against retaliation.

The EEOC Enforcement Guidance doesn't give any specifics with respect to the amount or nature of the training, or how "periodic" it should be. But the following states have progressively more specific sexual harassment training requirements.

Maine

In "workplaces with 15 or more employees," Maine requires employers to provide sexual harassment training for new employees within a year of employment. Additional training is required for supervisory and managerial employees within one year of employment, on taking corrective action with respect to sexual harassment complaints.

Connecticut

Connecticut requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide two hours of sexual harassment training to all supervisors of employees in the State of Connecticut. The requirements for the training, including specific requirements with respect to content, are set out in Connecticut Regulations.

According to an opinion of the Connecticut State Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, online training, or "e-learning" is permitted under the Connecticut regulations under certain conditions, including that it "provides an opportunity for students to ask questions and obtain answers in a reasonably prompt manner."

California

Under California Law AB 1825, if you are an employer "engaged in any business or enterprise in California," and you have 50 or more employees, you must provide all supervisory employees two hours of sexual harassment training every two years.. Important note: the law expressly provides that those 50 employees need not be living of working in California, so an employer with only one employee in California, but with a total of 50 employees in all locations, is covered by the California law.

The implementing regulations adopted by the California Fair Employment & Housing Commission on August 17 lay out in detail the requirements for the training, including the content of the training. These regulations specifically permit the training to be done by " e-learning and webinars," provided certain requirements are met. Among other requirements, the training must be done by qualified trainers, who may be certain attorneys, human resources professionals, or professor or instructors at the law school or post-high school level.

New Jersey

New Jersey does not have a specific law or regulation that requires sexual harassment training. However, in 2002, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that an employer's implementation of harassment training was important in determining whether the employer should be liable for harassment by an employee. As a practical matter, the decision means that New Jersey employers should provide sexual harassment training.

Conclusion

The saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. With respect to sexual harassment training, that's expressly the law in the three states noted above. In the states in which it isn't required specifically by a law or regulation, employers should pay attention to the statement in the EEOC Enforcement Guidance, to avoid the possible consequences of a failure to provide such training should a sexual harassment lawsuit be brought.

The posts on this blog reflect the personal views of Jeffrey D. Neuburger, in his individual capacity, and do not necessarily represent the views of his law firm or his clients, and are not sponsored or endorsed by them. The information contained in this blog is provided only as general information for educational purposes, and no warranty or representation is made about the accuracy of the information provided. Blog topics may or may not be updated subsequent to their initial posting. This information is not provided in the course of an attorney-client relationship and is not intended to constitute legal advice. This blog should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed attorney in your state.

Posted by Jeff Neuburger on September 4, 2007 | Comments (0)