Sexual and Other Workplace Harassment Training

To combat sexual and other harassment in the workplace, every employer in New York State, regardless of size, must provide harassment prevention training for all employees.

Click on this demo to sample our online training video:

To comply with the state regulations, the training must:

• Be interactive
• Explain sexual harassment using examples 
• Inform employees about laws regulating harassment, reporting procedures and legal rights available to victims
• Address conduct by supervisors, and additional responsibilities for supervisors
• Be completed by all employees by October 9, 2019 (and annually thereafter)

With vast experience preventing and defending sexual and other workplace harassment claims, Bond will provide a program to your organization that meets the standards set by the state.

Bond offers two training options:

In-Person Training

Bond attorneys can provide training for your organization, including:

1. Train the trainer
2. Supervisory and managerial training
3. Training of all employees

Live training is considered a “best practice” by New York State standards. We can customize the program for your workplace, answer questions and work with managers to ensure they have the proper training to ensure your workplace is compliant with training requirements.

New Offering: Web-Based Training

Bond has developed an interactive web-based training that is compliant with all New York State and New York City regulations on sexual and other harassment training, and updated regularly to address current legislative and other significant legal developments. For details on our web-based training, click on the FAQ section to read more.

The pricing is volume-based, meaning the price per person goes down for larger numbers of employees. 

We have three price tiers:

     1 to 99: $20/user (maximum of $1,500)
     100 to 499: $15/user (maximum of $5,000)
     500+: $10/user 

The price includes a Learning Management System (LMS) to track who at your organization has viewed and completed the training. (Separate pricing is available for companies with their own LMS.)

For more information or to order, please e-mail bondonline@bsk.com or call 1.800.339.8897.

See below for our frequently asked questions regarding Bond's Sexual and Other Workplace Harassment Training

1. How "mandatory" is this training?
   All New York State employers with at least one employee are required to give training to each employee, exempt or non-exempt employees, part-time workers, seasonal workers and temporary workers.

2. How often must employees receive sexual harassment training?
   Employees must be trained at least once per year. In subsequent years, this may be based on the calendar year, anniversary of each employee’s start date, or any other date the employer chooses.

3. How does the interactive program work?
   Our online training is an interactive, web-based program that your employees take individually on their computer or a shared computer, depending on your workplace set up. The training is designed to be completed within 30 minutes.

4. Does the program have a Learning Management System (LMS) or can it be incorporated into my company’s LMS?
   The training is built into an LMS that you will download and employ that tracks employee training. Please contact us if you have your own LMS that you would like to use.

5. What do my employees learn with this program?
   Our program includes information on:

• What constitutes sexual harassment

• Who the law protects from sexual harassment

• Employer responsibilities

• Exercising an employee’s rights

• How to avoid or prevent sexual harassment

• Federal and New York State sexual harassment laws. Alternate version for New York City employees.

6. Do you offer separate training for supervisors?
   Yes, we have a separate version for supervisors that complements the employee version for both New York State and New York City. Please inquire when ordering if you would like to also order a supervisor's version.

7. To learn more, visit:
   New York State Combating Sexual Harassment: Frequently Asked Questions.

If you have further questions not answered here, please e-mail bondonline@bsk.com or call 1.800.339.8897.

In addition to the training guidelines for all of New York State, New York City places additional obligations on employers operating in New York City. Bond’s training puts employers in compliance with these requirements.

The key elements of New York City guidelines are as follows:

• Coverage of the NYC Human Rights Law has been expanded with respect to the prohibition of gender-based harassment, including sexual harassment. The law applies to every NYC employer regardless of how many employees it has when it comes to claims of gender/sexual harassment. Employees have three years (up from one year) to file claims of gender/sexual harassment with the NYC Commission on Human Rights.
• NYC employers with 15 or more employees (including interns) will have to provide annual anti-sexual harassment training for all employees based on a model anti-sexual harassment training program that will be developed by the NYC Commission on Human Rights.

If employers do not want to utilize the Commission’s model training program, they will be able to utilize their own training so long as it provides the following information to employees, which Bond’s program does:

1. an explanation that sexual harassment is a form of unlawful discrimination under the New York City Human Rights Law, state law (the New York State Human Rights Law) and federal law (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964);
2. a description, using examples, of what constitutes sexual harassment under the applicable laws;
3. a description of the internal complaint procedure that employees can utilize to report possible sexual harassment to their employer;
4. a description of the external complaint procedure that is available to employees to report possible sexual harassment to the NYC Commission on Human Rights, the New York State Division of Human Rights, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and contact information for each of those three agencies;
5. an explanation that retaliation is prohibited and a description, using examples, of what constitutes retaliation; and
6. a discussion of the responsibilities specific to supervisory and management level personnel in preventing sexual harassment and retaliation in the workplace, and what the appropriate actions are for supervisory and management level personnel to take to address sexual harassment complaints.

Employers will be obligated to maintain records demonstrating that this training has been provided to all employees, including a signed acknowledgement from each employee that he or she has received this training. The Learning Management System (LMS) that is included with the online training program will fulfill this obligation.

Sexual-and-Other-Workplace-Harassment-Training-Brochure