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  • Chicago, Illinois is now requiring employers to update their employee harassment policies and training. These policies must be implemented by July 1st, 2022. All companies with at least one employee will be required to comply with the new amendments put in place by the Municipal Code and Human Rights Ordinance. Within these changes, sexual harassment posters, policies, record keeping, and mandatory workforce training must be implemented.

    What Employers Need To Know

    By July 1, employers must have each of these amended policies updated in their handbook. Within their policies, it must state that sexual harassment and or retaliation against a reported allegation are illegal within the state of Illinois. More required adjustments include:

    • Updated state definitions of harassment 
    • Annual employee training
    • Implement a reporting system with applicable forms 
    • Recordkeeping alleged claims 
    • Provide government services 

    Additionally, Chicago employers are required to display new posters in one or more common areas. New posters have been published by the Chicago Commission on Human Relations in a Spanish and English version.

    What is The Policy 

    Sexual harassment policies must be made available in employees’ primary language. Chicago legislators expanded the definition of sexual harassment, which states, “Sexual harassment means any (i) unwelcome sexual advances or unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature or (ii) requests for sexual favors or conduct of a sexual nature when (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment; (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for any employment decision affecting the individual; or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment; or (iii) sexual misconduct, which means any behavior of a sexual nature which also involves coercion, abuse of authority, or misuse of an individual’s employment position.”

    Prevention Training

    The training must now include one hour of sexual harassment prevention for all employees. However, this is extended for supervisors and managers, which provides a second one-hour bystander training. These trainings are required to be completed by June 30, 2023, and again annually.

    The state provides pieces of training through CCHR modules which will be in effect by July 1. However, employers can make changes or develop their own related to their industry.

    Failure To Implement 

    Employers must establish a system to retain the proof of completed courses. In addition, they must also have records showing they remained compliant in adapting the policy changes to their business. Failure to maintain records may result in fines up to $1,000 per day. Fines for violations of sexual harassment within the workplace have increased to $5,000 – $10,000 per violation.

    How GMS Can Help

    As a business owner, implementing changing regulations can be overwhelming. When you partner with GMS, you can ensure your business will remain compliant. In the event of rapid regulatory changes, our HR experts will always keep you up to date and handle your business’s adjustments with ease. Contact GMS today to learn more!

  • The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has begun commission meetings under its new chair, Jenny R. Yang, this month. The newest commissioner was also sworn in at this time bringing the board back to its full strength of five members.

    This month, they have also begun hearings on workplace harassment. What they have learned from experts in the field is that workplace harassment is still a major problem.

    Workplace harassment is a major issue.

    According to a recent press release from the EEOC, they are developing strategies that focus on targeted outreach and education as well as systemic enforcement to promote broader voluntary compliance.”

    That sound you just heard was business owners slapping themselves in the forehead.

    In the EEOC’s Strategic Enforcement plan for FY 2013-2016, the Commission recognized that an outreach campaign aimed at both educating employers and employees is an important strategy to deter future violations. ‘Preventing harassment from occurring in the first place is far preferable to remedying its consequences,’ Yang said.”

    Of course, what the commission said is true. So true that they are going to form a task force to identify effective strategies to “prevent and remedy” these things. This can only be good, right?

    As a small-business owner, you probably know that harassment can be a problem, but you’ve already probably taken steps to address this from ever becoming an issue. If and when this problem arises, you’re ready for it. Or are you?

    Large companies already have strategies and programs in place to prevent these things from happening and remedying them if they do. They’re not waiting for the heavy hand of big government to dictate to them how to handle these things. They have internal HR departments to put these policies in place.

    However, a small business doesn’t have an HR department. You’ve got you, your attorney and, well, you. Unless of course you’ve opted to go with an outside resource like a Professional Employer Organization (PEO).

    PEOs provide small business owners with the same type of professional HR services that large companies employ without the cost of an internal HR department. In this case, a PEO can help you put together and implement policies that can address harassment issues and as importantly how to handle them if and when they become and issue.

    To learn more about how a PEO can help your business contact us today at 330-659-0100.

  • It’s common for HR professionals to field questions about compliance and discrimination concerns. One question that some small business owners ask is how LGBT and gender requirements can impact their company. There are many laws and protections in place to prevent discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation that employers should know about.

    LGBT and Gender Discrimination Laws and Protections

    To start, The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is in charge enforcing federal laws that make discrimination illegal. This means that the EEOC “interprets and enforces Title VII’s prohibition of sex discrimination as forbidding any employment discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. The protections apply regardless of any contrary state or local laws.”

    The courts have held that Section 4112 of the Ohio Revised Code does not apply to sexual orientation. However, there have been state and federal government actions that do offer Ohio employees some protections from discrimination. 

    Gov. John Kasich used Ohio Executive Order 2011-05K to declare that persons employed by the state would not be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation in matters of hiring, layoff, termination, transfer, promotion, demotion, or rate of compensation. Former Gov. Ted Strickland also issued Executive Order 2007-10S that prevented the discrimination based on gender identity. In addition, former President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13672-2014, which prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating against others based on both sexual orientation and gender identity.

    Additional protections against discrimination involve insurance coverage. According to HealthCare.gov, “An insurance company that offers health coverage to opposite-sex spouses must do the same for same-sex spouses.” Insurance companies can’t discriminate against same-sex couples who are legally married in a jurisdiction that can authorize the marriage. This is the case regardless of the state where the couple lives, where the insurance company is based, and where the plan is sold, renewed, or in effect.

    Potential Transgender Workplace Issues

    Aside from hiring, layoff, termination, transfer, promotion, demotion, or rate of compensation decisions, there are other potential issues that employers should consider for transgender employees. For instance, the state of Ohio allows a transgender person to change their name and employers must accept this change.

    Another issue involves company bathrooms. According to Obergefell and LGBT Employment Law, “If fellow employees do not want the transgendered person, either before her gender transformation or during it, to use their bathroom, the employer must still offer the transgendered employee a bathroom. There is no law to force employers to honor the new gender for bathroom assignment. The best practice is to have the transgendered person use the bathroom that is identified with her gender identity and tell employees who do not want to share with her to use an alternate bathroom.”

    Preventing LGBT and Gender Discrimination Claims

    Over the years, the EEOC has received “1,412 charges that included allegations of sex discrimination related to sexual orientation and/or gender identity/transgender status.” Examples of LGBT-related sex discrimination claims include failing to hire an applicant because she’s transgender or harassment of an employee because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

    Of those 1,412 charges, the EEOC resolved 1,135 of them, leading to employers paying out $3.3 million in monetary relief for the affected workers and to make changes to prevent future discrimination.

    As discrimination laws continue to evolve, it’s crucial that business owners make sure that they are following every regulation in place to prevent discrimination in the workplace. A Professional Employer organization can provide human resource management to make sure your business is following all the necessary laws and that any important internal documents, such as your employee handbook, are updated 

    for any changes in LGBT and gender discrimination laws and protections. Contact us today to talk to one of our experts about how we can help your business today.