New York City law requires that you train employees who “regularly interact” with employees who work in New York City, regardless of where those employees are located.

New York State law requires that companies that bid on government contracts must train all employees, even those outside of New York.

EEOC guidelines and court decisions from around the country have made clear that all employers should periodically train all employees, regardless of where they work.

Employers who don’t provide such training face a tremendous risk when they are sued for sexual harassment, as many employers are at some point.  Employers who have not provided sexual harassment training may not be able to (1) raise an affirmative defense in a harassment lawsuit, or (2) avoid punitive damages.  Numerous federal and state court decisions from around the country have found employers liable and imposed punitive damages on employers in part because the employers had not provided harassment prevention training to all employees.

1. Recently enacted laws have set forth deadlines by when the first round of training must be provided.  Those deadlines are listed below.

   • New York, October 9, 2019
   • Connecticut, October 1, 2020
   • Delaware, January 1, 2020
   • California, January 1, 2021
   • Maine, within one year of hire/promotion
   • Illinois, January 1, 2021

• Every year: Illinois and New York (including New York City)
• Every two years: California and Delaware
• Every 3 years (recommended) 10 years (required): Connecticut
• No retraining requirement: Maine

Note that these are minimum retraining requirements under these state laws. EEOC Guidelines indicate that employers should provide training periodically.  Prudent employers, regardless of where they are located, retrain employees at least once every two years.

New hires should be trained as soon as possible after their start date.  Some states have specific time limits, including:

• California: 6 months
• Connecticut: 6 months (extended 3 months in 2020 due to COVID-19)
• Delaware: 12 months
• Illinois: As soon as possible
• Maine: 12 months
• New York State: As soon as possible
• New York City: As soon as possible

• 2 hours: California supervisors and all employees in Connecticut

Yes.  While many companies have popped up offering sexual harassment training, many of these companies don’t actually have the required expertise.  State laws and court decisions from around the country require employers to ensure that their training is developed and delivered by legal experts.  For example, California’s mandatory sexual harassment training law specifically requires that training providers must have “expertise in the prevention of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.”  Moreover, training providers must also have expertise in the prevention of “harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.”  The trainer provider must be an attorney, professor, instructor, human resource professional, or harassment prevention consultant with at least two years of expertise in employment law or harassment prevention.

State and federal laws on harassment and discrimination are constantly changing and being updated.  However, as a multi-state employer, it is your responsibility to ensure that the training remains compliant with the law.  If the laws change in any state, Clear Law updates our course immediately and lets you know of the changes.  We don’t wait until you renew or the end of the year to update our courses; we know that providing a fully compliant course is key so we update our course based on legal changes immediately.  We rolled out our new course, Positive Workplace, last year, and had to update the course content just a few months after release based on legal changes in multiple states.  We make this commitment to you.

Most states that require training require that online training be interactive and that experts (such as lawyers) answer user questions about the course content.  Further, some states require responses within two business days and that records be kept up to three years.  Many training providers put this responsibility on you as the employer because they don’t have the expertise to answers the questions.  It is a requirement in California that the expert trainer answers all user questions.  Clear Law Compliance Advisory Team, which consists of former attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice, major law firms, and Fortune 500 companies, answers all user questions we receive so you can rest easy knowing they are getting the correct information.  We also answer all questions within one business day and maintain copies of all questions in perpetuity.

If your employees face any issues during the training (they can’t remember their password or the sound isn’t working), rater than have them go through you to get answers from the training provider, your end users can contact us directly.  We have staff available from 8 am to 7 pm ET.  We will troubleshoot your users’ issues without putting you in the middle.

Clear Law does everything we can to ensure an effortless administration process for your team.  We provide all technical support for your employees.  In addition, our LMS will handle all tracking, reporting, and storing of completion certificates for you.

Yes, you can.  Our standard customizations package allows you to include your logo, relevant policies, workplace images, and an introductory message from a senior official in your organization.