In September 2018, we reported on New York State’s issuance of draft guidance under the recently enacted New York State law aimed at preventing sexual harassment.  New York State has now issued final guidance under this law.  This includes final guidance regarding:

• The anti-sexual harassment policy that every New York State employer (regardless of size and including those who employ only domestic and household employees) must adopt by October 9, 2018; and
• The mandatory interactive anti-sexual harassment training that every New York State employer is required to conduct for all employees annually.

Final Guidance Delays Deadline to Conduct First Annual Mandatory Training

Note that, under the prior draft guidance, the first annual interactive anti-sexual harassment training was required to be conducted before January 1, 2019.  The final guidance delays the requirement to conduct the first annual interactive training until October 9, 2019.  The final guidance also seemingly relaxes the timing requirement for training new hires.  Whereas the prior draft guidance specified that new hires had to be trained within 30 days of beginning employment, the final guidance encourages training new hires as soon as possible, but does not impose a deadline.

October 9, 2018 Deadline for Adopting Compliant Written Policy

The October 9, 2018 deadline for New York State employers to adopt an anti-sexual harassment policy that complies with the new law is only days away.  New York State employers who do not adopt the model policy issued by New York State can adopt individually tailored policies, as long as they meet the minimum requirements of the New York State law.  Note that there are certain provisions in the New York State model policy that go beyond the minimum standards required of New York State employers, so for this and other reasons, employers may prefer to customize their own policies.