How good training can prevent sexual harassment in the workplace
In the United States of America, each state has its own laws on employment law. In California, laws that regulate employment are quite extensive. Employment laws and regulations in California provide protection for employers as well as employees. The downfall in providing this body of law, however, is that it is vast, making it difficult to know all in which it provides. As a result, most employers and employees remain uninformed of their rights as well as obligations. A Sexual Harassment Lawyer will likely ask during a consultation if the employee was provided any sexual harassment training by their employer.
Per employment laws in California, employers are required to provide sexual harassment prevention training to their employees. But does this training actually train to prevent? The seminars have tons of information on the current laws that prohibit sexual harassment and the way in which the law defines certain conduct it forbids, yet sexual harassment remains a reoccurring issue in employment law litigation. Mainly a Sexual Harassment Lawyer would handle these types of cases.
The current debate is the training seminars are appropriate in theory because they inform individuals on-site what is inappropriate behavior under the law and sometimes they forget to tell the employee has the right to make a complaint about sexual harassment. However, the other side of the argument is that this information results in a superficial understanding. Laws and regulations can only extend as far as reciting the “do not’s” of the system which entails lengthy legal jargon which does not resonate with every employee. Relaying what the law prohibits is simply talking at the employees rather than talking to them. Effective training would be a type of training that would impact the way in which employees and employers choose to conduct themselves within a work environment. This argument was affirmed by a rent update in the training programs.
In October 2017, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released two new types of training sessions, one for employers and one for employees. The Commission took a new approach in the creation of the new training programs. Prior programs only recited the law along with legal definitions. The two new programs focus on what behavior is acceptable rather than amplifying prohibited behavior. By sharing information on what behavior is appropriate, employees and employers will have ideas to reference on how to act within the workplace. This shows that the old training programs only commanded employees and employers do not act in a certain way, leaving them with little guidance on how they should conduct themselves without a sexual harassment prevention policy.
The new training sessions provide more opportunities for employers to provide a safer and harassment-free work environment, which can be obtained through the Commission’s training facility. Although the new training programs are available, they do not guarantee a workplace to be free of sexual harassment. It remains that employees need to be aware of the current laws on sexual harassment and their rights. Some other kinds of sexual harassment that employee should be aware of include send nudes, hot gossip and trade-offs.
If you are an employee who finds any signs of sexual harassment at work and did not receive anti-harassment training from your employer, you should call a local Sexual Harassment Lawyer for a free consultation.
