New York defines sexual harassment as unwanted sexual advances and all verbal, visual or physical sexual conduct. For example, your colleagues and supervisors cannot make sexual gestures, display sexually suggestive posters or make derogatory comments and jokes. You have a right to attend work without fear of a hostile work environment. New York dictates that employers must provide sexual harassment prevention training.
Employers must use sexual harassment training models from the Department of Labor and the Division of Human Rights.
What are the training requirements for companies?
Sexual harassment training can occur in person or through an e-learning experience. Training sessions must remain consistent with the guidance of the Department of Labor and include examples of what would constitute sexual harassment in the workplace.
Training has to include the federal and state laws regarding sexual harassment, the types of conduct considered harassment, the remedies, prevention strategies and the obligation to report sexual harassment. Sexual harassment sessions must follow a strict curriculum and include questions that assess learning and skill-building activities to help students understand the content.
Who requires sexual harassment training?
Employers must train all supervisors and nonsupervisory employees. If an employee can hire, transfer, discipline or reward an employee, he or she requires sexual harassment training. Any person who has authority must understand the regulations around sexual discrimination and harassment.
As of October of 2018, all employees must receive a refresher of sexual harassment training every year. Employees and supervisors require an interactive experience from their employers. For example, if an employer provides training videos, he or she must provide a question-and-answer session at the end.