All New York employers must provide annual sexual harassment training to all employees in the State. The deadline for the first annual training was October 9, 2019. Just before that date, the NYS Legislature added to the requirements for this training. These include providing each employee with certain documents at each training session. Recently, the State issued further guidance on this sexual harassment training notice requirement.

New Guidance

As of August 12, 2019, employers must provide all employees with “a notice containing such employer’s sexual harassment prevention policy and the information presented at such employer’s sexual harassment prevention training program.”

The law didn’t otherwise explain what it meant by “notice”.

In online Frequently Asked Questions, the State now offers more information.

Timing

The law now requires employers to provide this information both:

• at the time of hiring, and
• at every annual sexual harassment prevention training.

Model “Notice”

It’s still not entirely clear whether employers have to provide something separate from the policy and training materials as a “notice”. However, the State has made a form document available as of October 2019 that appears intended to satisfy the requirement.

A copy of this “notice” document is available here.

Absent more specific guidance, employers will probably want to use this form document, modified as appropriate.

Training Materials

The new guidance explains that “training materials” include any printed materials, scripts, Q&As, outlines, handouts, PowerPoint slides, etc. used in the training.

Employers must provide copies of these documents in English. Employees whose primary language is Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Haitian-Creole, Bengali, or Italian, must also receive the documents in that language.

Digital Transmission

Especially for larger workforces, printing all of the training materials can be costly, or at least time-consuming. Fortunately, the State allows an alternative.

The law indicates that the notice and policy must be delivered in writing. However, the State acknowledges that means in print or digitally. It specifically permits email distribution. With electronic communication, the notice must link to or include the policy and training materials.

Prepare for Your Next Sexual Harassment Training

Whenever you provide sexual harassment training for New York employees, you should now give them the written notice, your sexual harassment policy, and the training materials. Keep records of the distribution. Ideally, obtain a signed acknowledgment from each employee to document their receipt.

Even if you don’t provide the full training to new hires, they must at least receive a copy of the policy and the most recent training materials. The State encourages employers to provide these materials to new employees by their first day of work and to train them as soon as possible.

For more on satisfying the New York sexual harassment training requirement, watch our recorded webinar: New York Sexual Harassment Training Update.