NYC Set to Require Anti-Harassment Training

According to Namely’s recent Love @ Work Survey, over 60 percent of workers have gone through anti-harassment training. New York City lawmakers want to raise that number closer to 100 percent.
 

Last week, the New York City Council unveiled a proposal that would require businesses with 15 or more workers to enroll both full-time and part-time staff in annual anti-harassment training. The training program, which can either be in-person or electronic, must be interactive. Employers would also be required to retain signed completion certificates, including the date, time, title, and duration of the training for at least three years. Failure to comply could result in steep fines—up to $2,000 per violation.
 

If approved by Mayor Bill de Blasio, the proposed ordinance would go into effect on September 1, 2018. It would easily be most robust anti-harassment training mandate in the country. California, the first jurisdiction to adopt such a program, only requires that supervisory employees go through training every two years.
 

The training requirements also came bundled with a number of other reforms, most notably an extension of the city’s statute of limitations for harassment claims from one year to three years. The Namely team will continue monitoring these proposals as they make their way to the Mayor’s desk.