Illinois
Updated November 21, 2024
All employers must provide this training at least once a year, with recordkeeping. Additional training required for restaurants and bars. The Department of Human Rights will develop and adopt a sexual harassment training program, which all employers will use, unless they establish another that “equals or exceeds the minimum standards provided by the model.”
The training must include:
- The definition of sexual harassment
- Examples of conduct that constitute unlawful sexual harassment
- A statement that it is the employer’s responsibility to prevent, investigate, and address sexual harassment
- A summary of federal and state laws addressing sexual harassment, including available remedies for victims of harassment
Additional requirements for restaurants and bars
The law requires all bars and restaurants to provide employees a written sexual harassment policy in English and Spanish within the first calendar week of employment, and supplemental training in English and Spanish.
The policy must include:
- A prohibition on sexual harassment
- The definition of sexual harassment
- Details on how an individual can report an allegation of sexual harassment internally, including options for making a confidential report to a manager, owner, corporate headquarters, human resources department, or other internal reporting mechanism that may be available
- An explanation of the internal complaint process available to employees
- How to contact and file a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- A prohibition on retaliation for reporting sexual harassment allegations
- A requirement that all employees participate in sexual harassment prevention training
Recordkeeping
Employers must report to the IDHR the number of adverse judgments or administrative rulings involving sexual harassment and unlawful discrimination on a yearly basis.
More information is available from the Illinois General Assembly.
Illinois – City of Chicago
All employers in Chicago must provide training to employees:
- Minimum of one hour of sexual harassment prevention training
- Minimum one hour of bystander training
- Anyone who supervises or manages employees must receive a minimum of two hours of sexual harassment prevention training
- Training is to be completed annually and must be provided to employees within the first calendar week of employment
The training must include:
- Examples of prohibited conduct that constitute sexual harassment
- Statement that retaliation for reporting sexual harassment is illegal in Chicago
- An individual’s options for reporting a sexual harassment allegation, including instructions on how to make a confidential report, with an internal complaint form, to a manager, employer’s corporate headquarters, human resources department, or another internal reporting mechanism.
Recordkeeping
Employers must maintain, for least five years, or for the duration of any claim, civil action, or investigation pending pursuant to this section, whichever is longer, a record of the employer’s written policy document prohibiting sexual harassment and trainings given to each employee, and records necessary to demonstrate compliance with this chapter.