As recently showcased during NFC’s webinar on this topic, currently, ELEVEN jurisdictions – California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, New York, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, DC, Virginia, and Washington State – require employers to train employees on sexual harassment and other types of workplace harassment and discrimination, up from only seven in 2019. Direct financial penalties for failure to comply with these requirements range from $500 to $5,000 per offense. However, the real cost is much greater when employers take into account the risk of losing lawsuits brought by employees alleging discrimination or harassment claims simply because the company is found to have failed to take reasonable steps to prevent such unlawful behavior, such as by training its workforce. In addition, raising awareness of these issues work towards ensuring a safe and comfortable environment for all and supporting hiring and retention goals.
How You Can Take Action:
Employers who do not already provide regular anti-harassment and discrimination training in mandatory jurisdictions should proactively implement training programs now. In addition, employers in states where training is not mandated by statute should strongly consider universal training programs to benefit the entire workforce.
WHAT NFC OFFERS:
NFC offers comprehensive training programs for our clients with seasoned attorney trainers who lead dynamic and interactive sessions. Courses can be designed to meet specific client needs not only for sexual harassment training, but also a wide variety of other employment law topics including FMLA, ADA, performance management, hiring practices, DEI topics, and conducting investigations in the workplace, to name a few. Trainings are offered in-person or virtually and are customized by industry and audience. Thousands of employees, supervisors, HR professionals, and C-Suite executives have benefited from NFC’s creative and expansive training practice.
If you would like to hear more about how the NFC can help you meet your employee training obligations, please call us at 973.665.9100 or 619.292.0545.