Illinois Sexual Harassment Training Requirements
Many employers want to know the Illinois sexual harassment training requirements. Specifically, you’re concerned with a few main questions:
- Who needs to undergo sexual harassment training?
How is this training provided to your employees?
What are the rules surrounding the training provided?
We’ll discuss everything you need to know in this guide, explaining all the rules and laws surrounding sexual harassment training for businesses in Illinois.
The Illinois Sexual Harassment Training Laws
The Illinois Department of Human Rights outlines the current laws surrounding sexual harassment training in the state. A new law was introduced in 2020 titled the Public Act 101-0221. It amended the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) and requires ALL employers in the state to provide annual sexual harassment training.
This state has some very strict laws surrounding who needs to train their employees. The general guideline is that anyone with at least one employee will need to train them in sexual harassment prevention. This applies to any type of staff member – they can be part-time, full-time, or an intern. If they’re on your books as an employee, you will have to train them.
The rule doesn’t apply to independent contractors – however, employers are encouraged to check that independent contractors have received the relevant training before letting them on-site to uphold the safety of their employees.
What About Employees Not Located In Illinois?
Illinois state laws indicate that any employee who works or will work in the state must be trained regardless of whether the employer is based in Illinois.
This is a critical thing to understand if you employ people in Illinois but your company is based elsewhere – these employees will require mandatory training.
Moreover, if you have employees working out of state BUT interact with employees in Illinois, they will also need sexual harassment prevention training. The law states this is mandatory even if they’re not physically present.
What Are The Illinois Sexual Harassment Training Requirements?
After establishing that training is required for your employees, you must ensure the training they receive meets all the legal requirements.
The IDHR stipulates all sexual harassment prevention training must fit the following framework:
- Explain what sexual harassment is.
- Provide examples of conduct that can be considered sexual harassment.
- Offer a summary of relevant federal and State provisions concerning sexual harassment – such as remedies available to victims.
- A summary of responsibilities employers have in preventing, investigating, and correcting measures of sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment training in Illinois must be completed annually. You need to train each employee by December 31 every year or you could be hit with fines and sanctions.
In cases when you hire a new employee, they should be trained ASAP as you (the employer) are legally liable for the SH conduct of new employees when hired. With that in mind, it doesn’t matter if a new employee was trained at a previous business; you should re-train them to cover your liability as it proves you’ve taken the necessary steps to educate a new worker.
Interestingly – unlike other states – Illinois hasn’t set any time requirements for sexual harassment training. In theory, this means the training program can be as long or short as possible, provided it covers all the points listed above.
Another aspect of the law worth noting is that you need to keep a record of all training. This should be made readily available for IDHR inspection if they request it. Records can be paper or electronic and can consist of a training certificate.
The Benefits of Online Sexual Harassment Training In Illinois
The legislation doesn’t require you to deploy any particular method to provide training. This is left up to the employer to determine based on their specific needs.
However, if you’re looking for the best approach, you can consider Online Illinois Sexual Harassment Training. This is a simple-to-use program that can certify and train your workers in an hour online. They receive a diploma-style certificate at the end, and the whole program aligns with Illinois state laws to ensure that everything is covered. There’s also a manager and supervisor version available for your management team members.
The benefit of using online training is that it’s far more cost-effective for employers.
You’ll have to spend a fortune getting a third-party training company in to educate everyone in your office – and this also takes hours to do. You could lose an entire day to sexual harassment training, meaning your business suffers from downtime.
Online training lasts an hour and covers everything your employees need to know, and can be completed when it’s most convenient for your organization. This means there will be little to no operational delays.
Online training is also far more engaging for your employees, and there’s a higher chance they’ll take the information in. Live training that takes a whole day usually results in bored employees who barely pay attention. They don’t get much out of the entire training program, so you’re far better served opting for an online approach.
All in all, online sexual harassment training makes a lot of sense for Illinois employers. It’s a more modern approach, far more engaging, and allows employees to go through it at their own pace to ensure they take it all in.
Summary
The Illinois sexual harassment training requirements are relatively straightforward. If you employ someone in Illinois – or someone in another state who will interact with employees in Illinois – they need to be trained in sexual harassment prevention.
Online training by a reputable training provider is by far the most convenient and affordable approach – so get yours done today to ensure every employee is certified and compliant.
