HR Hotline: Is Sexual Harassment Prevention Training Transferable?

Q: We just hired an employee who completed sexual harassment prevention training a month ago with a different employer. Does their Certificate of Completion transfer to their new job with us, as proof of their compliance with Connecticut’s training requirements?

A: Beginning Oct. 1, 2021, an employee who completed this training in person or online from the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities can transfer their compliance certificate to their new workplace provided they were trained within two years of being hired.

Unfortunately, if the new hire was trained by a resource other than CHRO, their new employer must then provide that training again.

Connecticut’s Time’s Up Act, which went into effect Oct. 1, 2019, requires employers with three or more employees to provide sexual harassment prevention training and education to all employees hired after Oct. 1, 2019, within six months of hire.

The law also requires that employers provide:

• New employees with information on the illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available to victims
• Existing employees with two hours of training by Apr. 29, 2021
• Periodic supplemental training not less than every 10 years

Companies with fewer than three employees must provide two hours of training to all existing supervisory employees by Apr. 29, 2021 or within six months of hire.

The legal duty to provide training and education falls to the employee’s current employer—it is not the employee’s responsibility.

The state legislature amended the training requirements during the 2021 General Assembly session.

There appears to be no real logic behind the decision making training portable only for those trained by CHRO, extending an inconvenience that many employers have recognized.

The legislature also clarified the time claimants have to file a complaint with the CHRO, allowing 300 days for all discriminatory practice complaints.

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HR problems? Email or call CBIA’s Diane Mokriski at the HR Hotline (860.244.1900) | @HRHotline