New York Training Laws
New York Training Laws
Summary:
All employers must train all employees regarding sexual harassment
once every year
Recent changes:
On August 12, 2019 New York Governor Cuomo signed a
package of anti-discrimination and anti-harassment measures (AO8421) which have a
direct impact on harassment prevention training in New York1
Relevant New York laws1:
NY State Budget, Park KK, Subpart E, Section 2 (S07057);
Article 7, Section 201-g of the Labor Law; Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act Local
Law 96 of 2018; New York City Administrative Code, Title 8, Chapter 1, Section 8-107
Subdivision 30; A08421
What companies must provide training:
Every company in New York or any company that has
employees that work in New York2,3
Who must be trained:
Every employee who works in New
York4 and any employee that regularly interacts with other employees in
New York City
How frequently must employees be trained:
All employees must be trained every year5
When must employees be trained:
All employees must be trained by October 9th,
2019. Employees in New York City must be trained within 90 days of hire and the
State of New York states as soon as possible “as employers may be liable for the
actions of employees immediately upon hire”
Minimum training requirements:
-
Sexual harassment training program shall be interactive and
include6,7:
- Explanation of sexual harassment & examples of conduct that would
constitute unlawful sexual harassment
- Statement that sexual harassment is a form of unlawful discrimination
under state and federal law
- Information concerning the federal and state statutory provisions
concerning sexual harassment and remedies available to victims of sexual
harassment
- Information concerning employees' rights of redress and all available
forums for adjudicating complaints
- Any internal complaint process available to employees through their
employer to address sexual harassment claims
- The complaint process available through the commission, the division of
human rights, and the United States equal employment opportunity
commission, including contact information
- Specific responsibilities of managerial employees in the prevention of
sexual harassment and retaliation, and measures that such employees may
take to appropriately address sexual harassment complaints
- The prohibition of retaliation with examples
- Information regarding bystander intervention, including resources on how
to do so
-
Any one of the examples below would meet the minimum requirement for an
eLearning course to be considered interactive:
- Has questions at the end of a section and the employee must select the
right answer
- Employees have an option to submit a question online and receive an
answer immediately or in a timely manner
- Training provides a Feedback Survey for employees after they have
completed the training
-
Employers must keep a record of all trainings, including a signed employee
acknowledgement. This may be done electronically
-
New York City Employers do not need separate New York State training so
long as the training meets the New York City requirements
-
There is no minimum amount of training time so long as the training meets
the minimum standards required
-
Separate training is not required for supervisors and employees but
employee training must address conduct by supervisors and any additional
responsibilities for such supervisors
-
Employers are expected to provide employees with training in the language
spoken by their employees
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- On January 18, 2018, New York State Budget was committed containing the
sexual harassment training requirements (S07507
- NY State Budget, Park KK, Subpart E, Section 2), with effect
October 9, 2018. These training requirements amended Article 7,
Section 201-g of the Labor Law . On May 9, 2018, New York City
signed the Stop
Sexual Harassment in NYC Act Local Law 96 of 2018 with effect April
1, 2019 outlining New York City’s sexual harassment training requirements.
These training requirements amended New
York City Administrative Code, Title 8, Chapter 1, Section 8-107
Subdivision 30. On August 12, 2019 A08421
was signed into clarifying the legal standard for what can be considered
sexual harassment under New York State law and requiring that employees must
receive at the time of each training both the company’s sexual harassment
policy and information about the contents of the course. New York State
published a Combating
Sexual Harassment: Frequently Asked Questions and New York City
published Stop
Sexual Harassment in NYC Act Frequently Asked Questions.
- New York City requires sexual harassment training for companies with 15 or
more employees. Given New York State training requirements apply to
companies in New York City, every employee must also be trained in New York
City.
- Employment Agencies such as placement firms or unions can provide training
to members, but it is the responsibility of the employer to confirm the
training is complete and meets the standards outlined by the law.
- According to the State of New York, Employees include all workers,
regardless of immigration status, exempt or non-exempt employees, part-time
workers, seasonal workers, temporary workers, and minors; Employees who are
not based in New York but do any work in the state must be trained.
Employees working outside of the state of New York do not need to be
trained. New York City Employees includes all employees, including interns
and any short-term workers who work over 80 hours in a calendar year and for
at least 90 days, and independent contractors are required to be trained. In
addition, if an employee is based elsewhere but regularly interacts with
other employees in New York City, even if they are not physically present in
the City, they should be trained.
- If a new employee has been trained at a previous employer and was trained
in compliance with the regulations outlined in the State Budget, then they
will not have to be retrained within the same calendar year (e.g.
piggy-backing is allowed).
- The State of New York states that a sexual harassment training program
“shall be interactive and include: (i) an explanation of sexual harassment
consistent with guidance issued by the department in consultation with the
division of human rights; examples of conduct that would constitute unlawful
sexual harassment; (iii) information concerning the federal and state
statutory provisions concerning sexual harassment and remedies available to
victims of sexual harassment; and (iv) information concerning employees'
rights of redress and all available forums for adjudicating complaints” and
that “any third-party training to ensure it meets or exceeds the minimum
standards required under the law”.
- New York City states that sexual harassment training “shall include, but
need not be limited to, the following: (1) An explanation of sexual
harassment as a form of unlawful discrimination under local law; (2) A
statement that sexual harassment is also a form of unlawful discrimination
under state and federal law; (3) A description of what sexual harassment is,
using examples; (4) Any internal complaint process available to employees
through their employer to address sexual harassment claims; (5) The
complaint process available through the commission, the division of human
rights and the United States equal employment opportunity commission,
including contact information; (6) The prohibition of retaliation, pursuant
to subdivision 7 of section 8-107, and examples thereof; and (7) Information
concerning bystander intervention, including but not limited to any
resources that explain how to engage in bystander intervention. (8) 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”
The above should not be viewed as legal advice and
we always recommend speaking to your legal counsel where you have specific legal
questions.
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