(All states except California and Connecticut and International)

• Does the course address all forms of harassment or just sexual harassment?
  
  It's not just about sexual harassment anymore! Since the Supreme Court's landmark decisions in the 1998 Faragher and Ellerth harassment cases, federal court decisions and EEOC Guidelines have made clear that employers' harassment prevention training must address not just sexual harassment but all types of unlawful harassment. Employers that provide training only on sexual harassment may not be able to raise a defense or avoid punitive damages in employee lawsuits claiming retaliation or harassment based on race, national origin, age, disability, and other legally protected characteristics.1
  
  While sexual harassment lawsuits tend to grab the headlines, employers' risk of harassment lawsuits based on other protected characteristics is actually greater. Of the 109,472 harassment charges that were filed with the EEOC during the 1990s, only 33% were sex-based while 14% were national-origin-based, and 43% were race-based. Employers can expect harassment charges based on age to increase as the "baby boomers" age. In addition, since September 11, 2001, the number of religious and national origin harassment and discrimination claims filed with the EEOC has increased dramatically.
  
  
• What topics should the course cover?
  
  Rather than simply preaching to employees that "harassment is bad," harassment prevention courses should take a more intellectual approach and focus on the "gray areas." For example, Global Compliance's online course, Preventing Workplace Harassment, asks employees to explore complicated topics such as:
  
  
  • What is and what is not unlawful harassment?
  • Do employees have free speech rights in the workplace?
  • How do you draw the line between consensual dating and harassment?
  • What is my employer's policy on dating co-workers?
  • Could you ever have a picture of your spouse in their bathing suit in the workplace?
  • Can I post a calendar that expresses my religious beliefs?
  • Can a customer or a vendor's conduct toward employees cause harassment?
  • Do harassment rules apply at company holiday parties or other off-site events?
  • Is a hug or a shoulder rub ever appropriate in the workplace?
    
  
  Global Compliance's course includes the following sections:
  
  1.  Introduction
  2.  Harassment in a Nutshell
  3.  Verbal Harassment
  4.  Physical Harassment
  5.  Visual and Electronic Harassment
  6.  Romance in the Workplace
  7.  If You Believe You are Being Harassed
  8.  Summary
  9.  Quiz Show
  
  All employees must complete each of these sections to complete the course. In addition, supervisory employees complete an additional section, "Supervisors' Duties," which addresses their additional responsibilities for preventing and reporting workplace harassment. For example, this section addresses what a supervisor should do if an employee complains of harassment but asks the supervisor to keep the complaint confidential and take no action.
  
  The non-supervisors' version of Preventing Workplace Harassment takes about an hour to complete, and the supervisors' version includes an additional 30 minutes of instruction.
  
  In addition, Global Compliance has created versions of its Preventing Workplace Harassment course to comply with California and Connecticut's sexual harassment training laws. Those laws require employers to provide two hours of sexual harassment training to any supervisor who supervises employees in those states. Also, the California and Connecticut laws require the courses to address certain topics that are specific to California and Connecticut law. In California, for example, the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC) issued new proposed regulations regarding California Law AB 1825 on March 27, 2007. To read the regulations, click here.
  
  Rather than forcing all supervisors nation-wide to take additional instruction that may not be relevant to them, Global Compliance created separate versions of the course to be taken only by supervisors in Connecticut and by supervisors in California.
  
  To learn more about Preventing Workplace Harassment: California Supervisors' 2nd Edition, click here.
  
  To learn more about Preventing Workplace Harassment: Connecticut Supervisors' Edition, click here.
  
  
  

1. See, Reed v. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, 171 F. Supp. 2d 741 (M.D. Tenn. 2001) (sexual harassment training no defense to punitive damages on retaliation claim); Williams v. Multnomah Education Service District, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9113 (Oregon 1999) (sexual harassment prevention efforts no defense in racial harassment case).