Providing anti-harassment training to employees is a key component of implementing an effective anti-harassment policy. Yet many small and medium sized employers fail to provide necessary anti-harassment training to their managers and staff. This is a mistake that could potentially expose a company to significant legal liabilities, even if the company has a written anti-harassment policy.
Anti-harassment training provides an employer with the following benefits:
- Compliance with harassment prevention training requirements under some state and local laws.
- Ensuring that employees, especially supervisors, understand the law of unlawful harassment and the employer’s complaint / investigation mechanism for resolving any issues of potential unlawful harassment.
- Avoiding costly legal liability, which can drain a company’s resources and time.
- Maximizing the time, energy, and resources of an employer’s human resources department by minimizing the risk of unlawful harassment.
- Avoiding the morale problems and employee turnover that unlawful harassment can cause in the workplace.
- Avoiding the negative press and damage to an employer’s reputation that could be caused by an unlawful harassment claim.
- Avoiding the risk that a court might award punitive damages against an employer due to the failure to provide anti-harrasment training.
- Demonstrating to federal and state human rights agencies that the employer is committed to providing a workplace free from unlawful harassment.
- Preserving the potential availability of a “Faragher-Ellerth defense,” which provides an employer with a limited defense to claims of unlawful harassment when the employer implements an effective anti-harassment policy and reporting procedure.
- Ensuring that anti-harassment polices are current and incorporate any recent changes in the law, such as changes to protected categories.
Anti-harassment training should be provided at least every couple of years or any time there is a significant change in personnel, whether due to turnover or growth.
Please contact us at (201) 345-5412 or info@morealaw.com if you have questions about anti-harassment training or providing anti-harassment training for your business.