Illinois Leading The Way With Sexual Harassment Training
Starting January 1, 2020, all employees in Illinois will be required to take annual sexual harassment training thanks to a new senate bill signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker on August 9, 2019.
Requirements
- New employees must receive sexual harassment prevention training within 90 days of hire
- Training must be provided to all employees every year
- The training must include an explanation of what constitutes harassment under the Illinois state law and provide examples of harassment, summarize state and federal laws (and remedies for) sexual harassment and summarize the responsibilities of the employer in recognizing, investigating, preventing and taking corrective measures to prevent harassment
- Training must be interactive
Non-compliance
Employers who do not provide compliant training will be subject to civil penalties, including a $500 penalty to businesses with less than 4 employees or a $1000 penalty to those with 4 more employees. Penalties for subsequent violations can rise to $5000 per violation.
Moving forward
At this time, Illinois is the first state to enact such a bill. The state of Nevada encourages private employers to take steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring although no specific training is required.
Consolidated Human Resources has an interactive web-based training module that meets the standards required by the Illinois Department of Human Rights. We will be rolling this out to our clients—in Illinois and throughout the country—in 2020. Stay tuned for more details and as always feel free to reach out with any questions, sales@chrusa.com.
