Senate Bill S5977

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S5977

SPONSOR: SERINO
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the labor law, in relation to the
model sexual harassment prevention training program

 
PURPOSE:

To ensure costs associated with sexual harassment training requirements
for employers are borne by the state.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Subdivision 2 of section 201-g of the labor law is amended to
explicitly require that the model sexual harassment prevention training
program shall be made available in an interactive format on the Depart-
ment of Labor's website at no cost to employers.

Section 2: Establishes the effective date.

 
              

JUSTIFICATION:

In 2018, New York State passed a law requiring all employers to provide
employees with annual sexual harassment training in the wake of recent
events bringing national attention to the pervasiveness of sexual
harassment in the workplace. While this legislation was a critical step
in the right direction, we have to do more to ensure that New York's
businesses are empowered to effectively comply with the law.

While large businesses are better positioned to absorb the costs of
meeting stringent training requirements, there are countless small busi-
nesses that are already struggling to keep their doors open as the State
continues to increase taxes while imposing additional mandates. Current-
ly, New York State does provide free training videos on its website that
have the potential to fulfill the minimum training requirements required
by the new law. However, the statue requires the training to be 'inter-
active,' requiring businesses of all sizes to engage a human resources
professional or legal counsel, which for many can create substantial
burden. However, the videos that are currently provided for free on the
state's website could be updated to include question prompts that would
allow businesses to fulfill the interactive requirement.

This legislation aims to ease the burden on New York's employers while
also ensuring that employees have the tools they need to confidently
work at their place of employment without the fear of sexual harassment.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the 90th day after it shall have become
law.