The Chicago Human Rights Ordinance was amended recently to add significant sexual harassment prevention requirements for employers. By July 1, 2022, Chicago is requiring all employers with at least one employee working within the city’s boundaries to update their sexual harassment policies and display new posters.

The required written policy on sexual harassment must include at least the following:

The Chicago Commission on Humans Rights’ (CCHR) website has a City of Chicago Sexual Harassment Model Policy for employers and a Sexual Harassment Model Poster.

As of July 1, 2022, all employers must provide both a Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and a Bystander Intervention Training. For the Sexual Harassment Prevention Training, supervisors and managers are required to complete a minimum of two hours annually. For all other employees, only a minimum of one hour annually is required. For the Bystander Intervention Training, all employees must complete a minimum of one hour annually. Training modules for both trainings will be made available to employers by July 1st, 2022 here. The first round of training must be completed by June 30, 2023.

In addition, the Amendments modify the definition of “sexual orientation” to mean a “person’s actual or perceived sexual and emotional attraction, or lack thereof, to another person.”

Going forward, employers must retain written records to show compliance with the Ordinance, including records of the policies and trainings provided to employees, for the longer of five (5) years or the duration of any claim, civil action, or investigation pursuant to the Ordinance.

The amendments increased penalties for all forms of discrimination from $500–$1,000 per violation, to $5,000–$10,000 per violation.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

© Smith Gambrell Russell | Attorney Advertising

This website uses cookies to improve user experience, track anonymous site usage, store authorization tokens and permit sharing on social media networks. By continuing to browse this website you accept the use of cookies. Click here to read more about how we use cookies.

Copyright © JD Supra, LLC