Illinois employers are required to offer employees yearly sexual harassment training

Formerly Senate Bill 75, Public Act 101-0221 was signed into law by Gov. Pritzker in August 2019, requiring Illinois employers to train their employees every year, beginning in 2020, on sexual harassment prevention. 

The Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) has provided a free model downloadable PowerPoint/PDF training presentation of its Sexual Harassment Prevention Training for All Employers. Employers “must either develop their own sexual harassment prevention training program that equals or exceeds the minimum standards for sexual harassment prevention training outlined in Section 2-109(B) of the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA), or they may use the model training provided by the IDHR,” according to the Illinois Department of Human Rights website. For more information on the training requirements, click here.

The state requires that the PowerPoint/PDF not just be shared and assigned to be read. Employees and employers must sign off to confirm the training was offered and the employee underwent the training. New hires must be trained as soon as possible because employers are liable for any sexual harassment conduct of new employees upon their hire. Also note that failure to provide annual sexual harassment prevention training is a violation of the IHRA.