Connecticut Law Now Requires Sexual Harassment Prevention Training For All Employees.
Connecticut Law Now Requires Sexual Harassment Prevention Training For All Employees.
PRODUCT FEATURES
For Learners
Effective Online Training
Relevant content on current workplace issues—in office, medical, restaurant and warehouse scenarios
Engaging videos depicting different harassment and discrimination situations
Interactive learning through scenarios, quizzes and more
"Ask the Expert" feature to email questions directly to CalChamber's training experts
Ease of Use/Flexibility
Note: The average time to complete this course is approximately two hours, but may vary depending on your pace, stopping and starting, etc.
For Administrators (Learning Management System)
Easy Startup and Management
Compliance Obligations
Helpful Support
PRODUCT FEATURES
For Learners
Effective Online Training
Relevant content on current workplace issues—in office, medical, restaurant and warehouse scenarios
Engaging videos depicting different harassment and discrimination situations
Interactive learning through scenarios, quizzes and more
"Ask the Expert" feature to email questions directly to CalChamber's training experts
Ease of Use/Flexibility
Note: The average time to complete this course is approximately two hours, but may vary depending on your pace, stopping and starting, etc.
For Administrators (Learning Management System)
Easy Startup and Management
Compliance Obligations
Helpful Support
Satisfies Section 46a-54 (15) (B) and 46a-54-204 of the Connecticut General Statutes Training Requirements.
On June 18, 2019, Connecticut enacted a new state law expanding its sexual harassment training requirements. Beginning October 1, 2019, employers must provide two hours of sexual harassment training to all employees, not just supervisors. New employees hired after October 1, 2019 must be trained within six months of hire. All current employees must be trained by October 1, 2020.
This article details employers’ posting and training obligations under the new law.
Which employers must provide training?
All employers of any size must provide sexual harassment training to their supervisors in Connecticut. Employers that have three or more employees must provide training to all employees in Connecticut. (The previous Connecticut law only applied to employers who had 50 or more employees and only required training for supervisors.)
What is the deadline for providing the training to existing employees?
Employers must provide sexual harassment training to all employees in Connecticut by October 1, 2020. If an employee has received such training since October 1, 2018, he or she is not required to receive the training again.
What are the requirements for training new employees?
New employees hired after October 1, 2019 must receive sexual harassment training within six months of hire. Thus, an employee hired on October 1, 2019 would need to receive training by April 1, 2020.
What are the retraining requirements?
Employers must provide periodic supplemental training that updates all employees on the contents of the sexual harassment training not less than every ten years. From a risk prevention perspective, prudent employers will provide training more frequently. Indeed, EEOC guidelines have indicated that employers should provide employees harassment prevention training periodically and some states require annual or every other year sexual harassment training.
How long must the training be?
The training must be at least two hours in length for both non-supervisory and supervisory employees.
What must be included in the content of the training?
The training and education shall include information concerning the federal and state statutory provisions concerning sexual harassment and remedies available to victims of sexual harassment.
Our online sexual harassment training courses cover the required content and more. Our training also covers not just sexual harassment, but other forms of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. We also address Bystander Intervention, workplace civility, and bullying.
View Harassment Course Demo No
Can online sexual harassment training qualify?
Yes. The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (“CHRO”) years ago issued an opinion that online training can comply with the state’s training law as long as the training “provides an opportunity for students to ask questions and obtain answers in a reasonably prompt manner.”
Importantly, our online sexual harassment training allows users to ask questions and have those questions answered within two business days either by an in-house legal expert or a client official.
Posting and email requirements for employers with three or more employees
Posting. Connecticut employers with three or more employees must post in a “prominent and accessible location” information concerning the illegality of sexual harassment and the remedies available to victims of sexual harassment.
Email. Connecticut employers with three or more employees must also provide, not later than three months after the employee’s start date, a copy of the information concerning the illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available to victims of sexual harassment to each employee by email. The subject line of the email should be, “Sexual Harassment Policy,” or something similar. Employers must email this information to the employee assuming that either (i) the employer has provided the employee an email account or (ii) the employee has provided the employer with his or her personal email address. If the employer has not provided all employees an email account, the employer must post the information concerning the illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available to victims of sexual harassment on the employer’s Internet web site, if the employer has one.
Alternatively, the employer could choose to provide its employees by email, text message or in writing with the link to the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities web site page that describes the illegality of sexual harassment and the remedies available to victims of sexual harassment.
CHRO allowed to enter an employer’s business to inspect compliance with posting and training requirements
The CHRO is now authorized to enter an employer’s business during work hours to ensure compliance with the posting requirements and to review all records, policies, procedures and training materials maintained by the employer.
The CHRO can conduct an inspection only when it “reasonably believes” that the employer is in violation of certain legal provisions, or during the 12 month period following the date on which any complaint has been filed against an employer.
Penalties for not complying with the notice and training requirements
Employers that do not provide the required notices and training can receive a monetary fine. And, of course, employers who don’t provide the notices and training may have a more difficult time raising a defense or avoiding punitive damages in a harassment lawsuit, as it may be more difficult for them to show that they took “reasonable steps” to prevent harassment from occurring.
Satisfies Section 46a-54 (15) (B) and 46a-54-204 of the Connecticut General Statutes Training Requirements.
On June 18, 2019, Connecticut enacted a new state law expanding its sexual harassment training requirements. Beginning October 1, 2019, employers must provide two hours of sexual harassment training to all employees, not just supervisors. New employees hired after October 1, 2019 must be trained within six months of hire. All current employees must be trained by October 1, 2020.
This article details employers’ posting and training obligations under the new law.
Which employers must provide training?
All employers of any size must provide sexual harassment training to their supervisors in Connecticut. Employers that have three or more employees must provide training to all employees in Connecticut. (The previous Connecticut law only applied to employers who had 50 or more employees and only required training for supervisors.)
What is the deadline for providing the training to existing employees?
Employers must provide sexual harassment training to all employees in Connecticut by October 1, 2020. If an employee has received such training since October 1, 2018, he or she is not required to receive the training again.
What are the requirements for training new employees?
New employees hired after October 1, 2019 must receive sexual harassment training within six months of hire. Thus, an employee hired on October 1, 2019 would need to receive training by April 1, 2020.
What are the retraining requirements?
Employers must provide periodic supplemental training that updates all employees on the contents of the sexual harassment training not less than every ten years. From a risk prevention perspective, prudent employers will provide training more frequently. Indeed, EEOC guidelines have indicated that employers should provide employees harassment prevention training periodically and some states require annual or every other year sexual harassment training.
How long must the training be?
The training must be at least two hours in length for both non-supervisory and supervisory employees.
What must be included in the content of the training?
The training and education shall include information concerning the federal and state statutory provisions concerning sexual harassment and remedies available to victims of sexual harassment.
Our online sexual harassment training courses cover the required content and more. Our training also covers not just sexual harassment, but other forms of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. We also address Bystander Intervention, workplace civility, and bullying.
View Harassment Course Demo No
Can online sexual harassment training qualify?
Yes. The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (“CHRO”) years ago issued an opinion that online training can comply with the state’s training law as long as the training “provides an opportunity for students to ask questions and obtain answers in a reasonably prompt manner.”
Importantly, our online sexual harassment training allows users to ask questions and have those questions answered within two business days either by an in-house legal expert or a client official.
Posting and email requirements for employers with three or more employees
Posting. Connecticut employers with three or more employees must post in a “prominent and accessible location” information concerning the illegality of sexual harassment and the remedies available to victims of sexual harassment.
Email. Connecticut employers with three or more employees must also provide, not later than three months after the employee’s start date, a copy of the information concerning the illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available to victims of sexual harassment to each employee by email. The subject line of the email should be, “Sexual Harassment Policy,” or something similar. Employers must email this information to the employee assuming that either (i) the employer has provided the employee an email account or (ii) the employee has provided the employer with his or her personal email address. If the employer has not provided all employees an email account, the employer must post the information concerning the illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available to victims of sexual harassment on the employer’s Internet web site, if the employer has one.
Alternatively, the employer could choose to provide its employees by email, text message or in writing with the link to the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities web site page that describes the illegality of sexual harassment and the remedies available to victims of sexual harassment.
CHRO allowed to enter an employer’s business to inspect compliance with posting and training requirements
The CHRO is now authorized to enter an employer’s business during work hours to ensure compliance with the posting requirements and to review all records, policies, procedures and training materials maintained by the employer.
The CHRO can conduct an inspection only when it “reasonably believes” that the employer is in violation of certain legal provisions, or during the 12 month period following the date on which any complaint has been filed against an employer.
Penalties for not complying with the notice and training requirements
Employers that do not provide the required notices and training can receive a monetary fine. And, of course, employers who don’t provide the notices and training may have a more difficult time raising a defense or avoiding punitive damages in a harassment lawsuit, as it may be more difficult for them to show that they took “reasonable steps” to prevent harassment from occurring.
REQUIRED TRAINING
Connecticut’s new Time’s Up Act is not just the latest statewide initiative to pass, it is an upgrade from an existing one. So it is safe to assume that it is among the most stringent.
Starting October 1, employers with three or more employees now must provide two hours per year of sexual harassment training to all employees. But even employers with fewer than three employees – and this would mainly be family businesses where owners’ spouses or children work – still have to provide sexual harassment training to supervisory employees. Prior to the Time’s Up Act, these requirements only applied to companies with 50 or more employees. California’s law – previously considered the strictest – only ordered compliance training for companies with five or more employees, and then only on a two-year cycle.
The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities is currently developing no-cost resources to provide to employers. There is nothing about it on the agency’s website yet but, once this curriculum is developed, it is likely to be as a proxy for training guidelines that can be reused throughout the United States.
Until then, though, California probably provides the best template for determining what must be covered. Specifically, trainers in the Golden State must explain these 14 points:
The definition of sexual harassment under the Fair Employment and Housing Act and Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964,
Statutes and case law prohibiting and preventing sexual harassment
The types of conduct that can be sexual harassment
The remedies available for victims of sexual harassment
Strategies to prevent sexual harassment
Supervisors’ obligation to report harassment
Practical examples of harassment
The limited confidentiality of the complaint process
Resources for victims of sexual harassment, including to whom they should report it
How employers must correct harassing behavior
What to do if a supervisor is personally accused of harassment
The elements of an effective anti-harassment policy and how to use it
The definition of “abusive conduct” under state law
Harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation
New York State has similar but distinct coursework requirements, which can be found on its website.
It is telling that, in Connecticut’s new law, training requirements are just part of the formula. The Time’s Up Act is actually more focused on providing redress for victims of sexual assault than victims of sexual harassment. Its main provision is abolishing the statute of limitations for some classes of rape. As for its workplace provisions, it increases the requirement to inform employees of the illegality of sexual harassment and the remedies available. Under the previous law, a poster in the break room was sufficient, but now the same information must also be published as static content on the company website, pushed out to each employee via email and handed to each employee as a hard copy.
It should also be noted that there is often a difference between training that is effective and training that just ticks the boxes. After more than half a century of federal legislation, regulatory commissions, case law decided by the highest Court in the land and such high-profile public revelations from the likes of Anita Hill, and yet one in three employees have reported sexual harassment.
“Let’s just say that sexual harassment became illegal in the mid-1980s and the numbers haven’t changed,” Fran Sepler, a workplace misconduct consultant told Quartz.
So a company that sets compliance with a regulatory requirement as the bar for its anti-harassment training might just as well be inviting a lawsuit, a public pillorying and a nasty letter from the EEOC. It is not enough to explain to someone who is going to harass employees anyway exactly how to do it. Rather than conformity with state law, the goal of the training course should be too but to truly contribute to a safer work environment for all.
REQUIRED TRAINING
Connecticut’s new Time’s Up Act is not just the latest statewide initiative to pass, it is an upgrade from an existing one. So it is safe to assume that it is among the most stringent.
Starting October 1, employers with three or more employees now must provide two hours per year of sexual harassment training to all employees. But even employers with fewer than three employees – and this would mainly be family businesses where owners’ spouses or children work – still have to provide sexual harassment training to supervisory employees. Prior to the Time’s Up Act, these requirements only applied to companies with 50 or more employees. California’s law – previously considered the strictest – only ordered compliance training for companies with five or more employees, and then only on a two-year cycle.
The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities is currently developing no-cost resources to provide to employers. There is nothing about it on the agency’s website yet but, once this curriculum is developed, it is likely to be as a proxy for training guidelines that can be reused throughout the United States.
Until then, though, California probably provides the best template for determining what must be covered. Specifically, trainers in the Golden State must explain these 14 points:
The definition of sexual harassment under the Fair Employment and Housing Act and Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964,
Statutes and case law prohibiting and preventing sexual harassment
The types of conduct that can be sexual harassment
The remedies available for victims of sexual harassment
Strategies to prevent sexual harassment
Supervisors’ obligation to report harassment
Practical examples of harassment
The limited confidentiality of the complaint process
Resources for victims of sexual harassment, including to whom they should report it
How employers must correct harassing behavior
What to do if a supervisor is personally accused of harassment
The elements of an effective anti-harassment policy and how to use it
The definition of “abusive conduct” under state law
Harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation
New York State has similar but distinct coursework requirements, which can be found on its website.
It is telling that, in Connecticut’s new law, training requirements are just part of the formula. The Time’s Up Act is actually more focused on providing redress for victims of sexual assault than victims of sexual harassment. Its main provision is abolishing the statute of limitations for some classes of rape. As for its workplace provisions, it increases the requirement to inform employees of the illegality of sexual harassment and the remedies available. Under the previous law, a poster in the break room was sufficient, but now the same information must also be published as static content on the company website, pushed out to each employee via email and handed to each employee as a hard copy.
It should also be noted that there is often a difference between training that is effective and training that just ticks the boxes. After more than half a century of federal legislation, regulatory commissions, case law decided by the highest Court in the land and such high-profile public revelations from the likes of Anita Hill, and yet one in three employees have reported sexual harassment.
“Let’s just say that sexual harassment became illegal in the mid-1980s and the numbers haven’t changed,” Fran Sepler, a workplace misconduct consultant told Quartz.
So a company that sets compliance with a regulatory requirement as the bar for its anti-harassment training might just as well be inviting a lawsuit, a public pillorying and a nasty letter from the EEOC. It is not enough to explain to someone who is going to harass employees anyway exactly how to do it. Rather than conformity with state law, the goal of the training course should be too but to truly contribute to a safer work environment for all.
Description
Satisfies Section 46a-54 (15) (B) and 46a-54-204 of the Connecticut General Statutes Training Requirements. On October 1st, 1992, Connecticut became the second state to make sexual harassment training a mandatory requirement for employers.
Both employees and supervisors learn about sexual harassment, discriminatory behavior and types of conduct that create a hostile workplace. Developed by legal and HR training experts, the course covers key federal laws. The course engages and verifies their understanding of the material by using interactive features such as:
Objectives
Description
Satisfies Section 46a-54 (15) (B) and 46a-54-204 of the Connecticut General Statutes Training Requirements. On October 1st, 1992, Connecticut became the second state to make sexual harassment training a mandatory requirement for employers.
Both employees and supervisors learn about sexual harassment, discriminatory behavior and types of conduct that create a hostile workplace. Developed by legal and HR training experts, the course covers key federal laws. The course engages and verifies their understanding of the material by using interactive features such as:
Objectives