Is Sexual Harassment Prevention Policies Mandatory In Any Workplace?

In May of 2018 the City of New York enacted the Stop Sexual Harassment in New York City Act (NYC-SSHA), implementing sexual harassment prevention policies in the workplace. In addition, New York State established their new statewide employer requirement related to workplace sexual harassment in it’s 2019 budget law created April 2018.

Here’s the skinny:

FOR Companies in NYC: 

Effective date	Law	Affected employers	New Provision
April 12, 2018	State	All employers in the state of New York	•   Subject to sexual harassment claims by nonemployees (previously, only employees could file these claims against an employer).
May 9, 2018	Local	Employers with 1-3 employees in NYC	•   Subject to gender-based harassment claims (previously, these claims were allowed only against employers with four or more employees in NYC).
		All NYC employers	•   Subject to gender-based harassment claims for up to three years after alleged harassing conduct occurs (previously, these claims could be filed for only one year after the alleged harassing conduct).
July 8, 2018		NYC contractors and subcontractors	•   Must include their practices, policies and procedures relating to preventing and addressing sexual harassment as part of a report required for certain contracts.
July 11, 2018	State	All employers in the state of New York	•   Prohibited from including nondisclosure requirements within any settlement or other agreement to resolve a sexual harassment claim, unless the complainant prefers to include one. •   Prohibited from including mandatory arbitration requirements for sexual harassment claims within any written contract.
Sept. 6, 2018	Local	All NYC employers	•   Must display a workplace poster about sexual harassment. •   Must provide a fact sheet about sexual harassment to new hires.
Oct. 9, 2018	State	All employers in the state of New York	•   Possess a written sexual harassment policy. •   Distribute the written policy to all employees. •   Present annual, interactive sexual harassment training to all employees. •   The policy and program must meet minimum standards provided under models to be established by the New York State Department  of Labor and the New York State Human Rights Division.
April 1, 2019	Local	Employers with 15 or more employees in NYC	•   Provide annual, interactive sexual harassment training after 90 days of initial hire to all employees (including interns) who work more than 80 hours in a calendar year. •   Maintain a record of all trainings for at least three years. •   May establish own training program that meets minimum legal requirements or use an online interactive training module to be established by the NYC Commission on Human Rights (NYC-CHR).

 

For Companies who have at least (1) New York Employee:

Effective July 11, 2018, the amendments prohibit employers from including any:

• Nondisclosure requirements within any settlement or other agreement to resolve a sexual harassment claim, unless the complainant prefers to include one; or
• Mandatory arbitration requirements for sexual harassment claims within any written contract.

Effective Oct. 9, 2018, the amendments require every employer in the state to:

• Adopt a written sexual harassment prevention policy
• Distribute the written policy to employees; and deploy a poster in a high trafficked area.
• By October 9th , 2019 Conduct annual sexual harassment prevention training consistent with Dept of Labor Guidelines for employees annually.
• Train new employees as soon as practical.

PLEASE NOTE IF YOU ARE A METROPOLITAN RISK CLIENT WE WILL PROVIDE OUR CUSTOMIZABLE TRAINING TOOL FOR YOU & YOUR EMPLOYEES.

CLICK HERE for Additional Information on our Learn Pro Training System.

The amendments also include additional new requirements for employers that submit bids to the state or to any of its departments or agencies. Within each bid submitted on or after Jan. 1, 2019, these employers must certify that they are in compliance with the law’s new written policy and annual training requirements.

 

 

 

Make sure your team and company are aware of this new law and contact one of our RISK ADVISORS today.