Preparing for New York State's Mandated Sexual Harassment Training

Have you trained your employees on sexual harassment?

Regardless of size, if you are a business operating in New York State you must have a harassment policy that encompasses all types of harassment and you must have your employees complete sexual harassment training. This can be a large undertaking for a small business owner. Creating a policy that is compliant with New York State’s laws and taking a few hours out of a day to have your employees participate in a training can seem like a big sacrifice in a small business.

Currently, our business has one full time employee. Our legal assistant will need to complete the training by October 9th of this year! Any interns working with us will not need to be trained but will need access to the harassment policy.

As a small business owner, it often feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day for us to complete our work. I understand that implementing a policy and creating a training can feel like a daunting task when you wear eight other hats in your business, so I want to share some tips with you about the resources you have available to you.

First and foremost, be sure that your business documents are all up to date. Are you filing any required paperwork? Have you had an annual meeting with the managers, members, or board?

Second, know that New York State has a host of resources for you to use when creating your harassment policy and training. Should you choose to create your own policy and training it must meet or exceed the standards established in the New York State model policy.