Employers scrambled to provide sexual harassment training to all employees based in New York State by the October 9, 2019 deadline. Now, employers should be aware that New York State and New York City also require employers to provide sexual harassment training to some employees who are not based in New York.
Employees Who Work Even a Portion of Their Time in New York State or New York City
Under New York State law, employers must provide sexual harassment training to any employee who works even a portion of their time in New York State, even if the employee is based in another state. For example, an employee who is based in Nebraska but travels to New York State to meet with a client or attend a work-related conference must be trained in compliance with the New York State sexual harassment training law.
Under New York City law, any employee who works in New York City for more than 80 hours in a calendar year and for at least 90 days must receive sexual harassment training, regardless of whether the employer or employee is based in New York City.
New York City law also requires sexual harassment training for some employees who never even visit the City. According to New York City’s sexual harassment training guidance, if an employee is based elsewhere but regularly interacts with other employees in New York City, the employee should receive sexual harassment training.
Government Contractors’ Employees
Companies that bid on contracts with New York State government agencies must provide annual sexual harassment training to all their employees, even those not located in the state of New York. According to New York State law, all contractors who bid on contracts to provide goods or services to the New York State government or any state agency where competitive bidding is required must submit the following as part of their bid:
“By submission of this bid, each bidder and each person signing on behalf of any bidder certifies, and in the case of a joint bid each party thereto certifies as to its own organization, under penalty of perjury, that the bidder has and has implemented a written policy addressing sexual harassment prevention in the workplace and provides annual sexual harassment prevention training to all of its employees.” (State Finance Law, Section 139-L).
While New York City law does not explicitly require companies that bid on City government contracts to provide sexual harassment training to all employees outside of the City, such companies are required to describe their practices, policies, and procedures “relating to preventing and addressing sexual harassment” as part of their existing contractual reporting requirements.
Learn more about the current requirements under New York State and New York City sexual harassment training laws.
California state law requires employers with at least five employees to provide sexual harassment training every two years for all employees located in California. Since 2005, California law AB 1825 has required employers with 50 or more employees to provide sexual harassment training for supervisors in California.
