STATE LAW MANDATES
New York State and New York City Sexual Harassment Prevention Training
Impact Compliance provides online and in person sexual harassment training that meets the requirements enacted by New York State and the Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act. Not only do we provide sexual harassment training in new york, but we can also even provide courses to Employees that don't have Computer or Email Access through our innovative access code and self-registration course deployment.
New York businesses must comply with mandatory sexual harassment training by October 2019, and online learning makes it easier than ever for your company to meet the strict sexual harassment training mandates. Impact Compliance aims to stop harassment in the workplace with a flexible, scalable, and cost-effective harassment compliance training.
In the last five years alone, there have been nearly 1,500 harassment complaints in New York City. In light of recent events in the media and the #MeToo movement, New York State passed sweeping sexual harassment prevention mandates that will require all organizations effective October 2018 to provide training for their employees on harassment and discrimination prevention. Employers are encouraged to provide the training as soon as possible to employees but must ensure all employees have completed the training by October 9, 2019. Organizations will have to repeat this training on an annual basis.
Finding a compelling, impactful training that meets all of New York's requirements and can be used by employees that aren't sitting in front of computers, can be complex and challenging, which is why Impact Compliance, a trusted name in compliance training, is simplifying the process even if employees don't have email or computer access. Please click here to access a free course trial today.
NEW YORK STATE REQUIREMENTS
Starting in October 2018, all New York State employers, regardless of size, must provide annual training for every employee, including interns, supervisors, and managers. The New York State Division of Human Rights (DHR) is required to produce and provide a model of guidance for a prevention policy. By January 1, 2019, all New York State government contract bidders must submit an affirmation confirming the implementation of policies and training. The mandate says that the sexual harassment prevention training must:
- Be interactive
- Include remedies available to victims
- Inform of federal, state, and local laws
- Provide definitions of harassment and examples
- State employees rights of redress
- Provide information addressing conduct and any additional responsibilities by supervisors
HERE IS A SAMPLE OF OUR INTERACTIVE AND IMPACTFUL VIDEO CONTENT
Additionally, these mandates require New York State employers to protect their own employees from harassment but also nonemployees, including vendors and contractors. Sexual harassment training in New York is absolutely needed for success and safety at the office. Previous legislation didn’t include people who weren’t part of the organization itself. However, now organizations are responsible for all misconduct on their location, regardless of whether the employee is their own.
As we've seen in the New York State harassment prevention guidance, the training must be "interactive," which means employees have to engage with the course. Training videos alone won't meet the interactive requirements without the necessary question outlets and responses and the end of course surveys for feedback. To be interactive the training must:
- If the training is web-based, it has questions at the end of a section and the employee must select the right answer
- If the training is web-based, the employee has an option to submit a question online and receive an answer immediately or in a timely manner
- In an in-person or live training, the presenter asks the employees questions or gives them time throughout the presentation to ask questions
- Web-based or in-person training that provides a Feedback Survey for employees to turn in after they have completed the training
What we are seeing with the interactive requirements is gone are the days when learners can passively observe a presentation and not participate.
For New York State Contract Bidders the following bid provisions apply effective January 1, 2019:
- Subpart A amends the state finance law to add a new section 139-1
- Every bid hereafter made to the state or any public department or agency thereof, where competitive bidding is required, shall contain the following statement subscribed by the bidder and affirmed by such bidder as true under the penalty of perjury: "By submission of this bid, each bidder and each person signing on behalf of any bidder certifies, and in the case of a joint bid each party thereto certifies as to its own organization, under penalty of perjury, that the bidder has and has implemented a written policy addressing sexual harassment prevention in the workplace and provides annual sexual harassment prevention training to all of its employees. Such policy shall, at a minimum, meet the requirements of section two hundred one-g of the labor law."
- Any bid hereafter made to the state, by a corporate bidder, where such bid contains the statement required by subdivision one of this section, shall be deemed to have been authorized by the board of directors of such bidder, and such authorization shall be deemed to include the signing and submission of such bid and the inclusion therein of such statement as the act and deed of the corporation.
- Where competitive bidding is not required, state departments and agencies may, at their discretion, require the above certification.
To ensure your organization meets the sexual harassment training New York State training mandate, implement our interactive web-based online course that complies with the most current sexual harassment prevention training requirements. We provide a New York harassment prevention checklist to help with your online compliance training evaluation. Please click here to review: New York Training Checklist
If you're searching for help to provide sexual harassment training in new york for your employees, contact Impact Compliance today.
NEW YORK CITY REQUIREMENTS
On April 11, 2018, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed New York City's own sexual harassment prevention training mandate titled "Stop Sexual Harassment in New York City Act.” Although most of the requirements are consistent with New York State’s, there are a few different expectations that must be noted.
For instance, New York City requires that employers with 15 or more employees complete a sexual harassment prevention training by April 1, 2019. Additionally, employees must receive training within 90 days of hire.
Here are some of the elements that must be included in the training:
- An explanation of sexual harassment as a form of unlawful discrimination
- A statement that sexual harassment is also a form of unlawful discrimination under state and federal law
- Any internal complaint process available to employees to address sexual harassment claims
- A description of sexual harassment and use of examples
- The complaint process available through the City Commission, the New York State Division of Human Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, including contact information
- A prohibition on retaliation and examples
- Information concerning bystander intervention, including but not limited to any resources that explain how to engage in bystander intervention
- The specific responsibilities of supervisory and managerial employees in the prevention of sexual harassment and retaliation, and measures that such employees may take to appropriately address sexual harassment complaints
Under the law, “interactive training” is defined as “participatory teaching whereby the trainee is engaged in a trainer-trainee interaction, use of audio-visuals, computer or online training program or other participatory forms of training as determined by the commission.” However, live or facilitator-led, in-person training is not required.
After completion of the training, employers are required to maintain records of those who attended the interactive training and signed policy acknowledgements by learners for three years. Our Learning Management System (LMS) provides an effortless administration dashboard to track and report all training and store signed acknowledgment forms electronically to ensure compliance.
COMPLY WITH NEW YORK'S SEXUAL HARASSMENT LAWS
Impact Compliance knows it's not just about meeting compliance mandates. It's about creating a respectful and inclusive environment where every employee can excel and feel safe.
To create a workplace free of harassment and discrimination, contact us about our online and in-person sexual harassment prevention training courses. Our program is impactful, engaging, and is tailored to New York training mandates. Contact us to launch our training solution in your organization today.
If you would like to learn more about our interactive online and in-person compliance training, click the button below for a free course trial.