New Program for New York State's New Sexual Harassment Training - Interactive Services

The recent #MeToo and “Time’s Up” movements have had a profound effect on American society, and the topic of sexual harassment in the workplace and how to prevent it, has become a prevalent issue for legislators and employers alike. In April 2018, the New York State and City legislatures both passed new legislation requiring companies to provide anti-harassment compliance training, adding some new requirements to the existing laws (state requirements come into effect on October 9, 2018, with city requirements becoming effective from April 1, 2019).

While the primary New York State sexual harassment training requirements broadly align with existing legislation across all US states – which covers the definition of sexual harassment, what behavior constitutes harassment, and employers’ obligations and remedies available to victims – there are some important differences:

• Anti-harassment training must be provided by all companies, regardless of size.
• All employees (not just supervisors and managers) must complete the training.
• Training must be provided annually.

New York City council’s legislation (Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act) is similar to the state law, but only applies to employers with 15 or more employees. It also requires training to be provided on how to engage in bystander intervention.

How Interactive Services is Meeting New York State & City Training Requirements
To meet these new demands, Interactive Services has updated its anti-harassment and discrimination compliance training to incorporate the following:

• Interactive training: State legislation requires learning to be interactive and participatory, and to this end, we have integrated effective explore interactions that allow learners to review important state information relevant to them.
• Bystander Intervention training: Learners are presented with a detailed and realistic scenario of a case of sexual harassment in the workplace, and must figure out the correct course of action to take.

For more information on Interactive Service’s new course, visit our anti-harassment compliance training page.