Why is it Required?

Formerly Senate Bill 75, Public Act 101-0221 was signed into law by Governor Pritzker in August 2019. Under this Act, Illinois employers are required to train employees on sexual harassment prevention by December 31, 2020, and on an annual basis thereafter.

This requirement applies to all employers with employees working in this State, specifically including:

• employers with one or more employees domiciled in the state of Illinois, and
• employers domiciled outside the state of Illinois for their employees who work in Illinois or who supervise workers in the state of Illinois

Employers must either:

• develop their own sexual harassment prevention training program that equals or exceeds the minimum standards for sexual harassment prevention training outlined in Section 2-109(B) of the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA),
• use the model created by the IHRA or
• utilize the training programs provided by third party vendors such as HarassmentWebinars.com

In addition to providing the sexual harassment prevention training described above, restaurants and bars are required to provide supplemental sexual harassment prevention training that complies with Section 2-110 of the IHRA.

In addition, Chicago Ordinances add specific requirements to the state model for employees and supervisors who work in the City of Chicago.