As we previously reported, the “Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act” expanded the reach of the New York City Human Rights Law in the area of gender-based discrimination, including harassment. Among other things, as of April 1, 2019, the law mandates employers with 15 or more employees (which includes independent contractors) in the previous calendar year to conduct annual anti-sexual harassment training to all employees, including managers and supervisors. The law requires employers to train new employees who work more than 80 hours in a calendar year within 90 days of initial hire.
The law directed the New York City Commission on Human Rights to develop a free online interactive training module that employers could use to satisfy New York City’s training requirements. The online training module is now available free of charge, and can be accessed here. According to the New York City Commission’s website, its online training module meets the requirements for training imposed by New York State Law. (New York State has also prepared online training videos, but they do not comply with New York City’s stricter requirements.)
New York City’s 45 minute training module video focuses on gender and sexual harassment and generates a certificate of compliance at the end of the training, which employers are required to maintain for at least three years. According to the Commission, most of the stories relayed in the video were inspired by actual cases of sexual harassment.
New York City requires employers to train all employees by no later than December 31, 2019, and then each year thereafter. New York State, however, requires all employees to be trained by no later than October 9, 2019. Thus, in order to comply with the requirements of state and city law, the first training of all employees must be completed by October 9, 2019.
Employers are not required to adopt the New York City Commission’s online training module as long as they develop an alternative program that complies with the law’s requirements.
