A bill filed by state Rep. Helene Keeley would require employers with more than 50 workers to provide training in sex harassment prevention.
The bill would make sexual harassment a discriminatory, unlawful employment practice and would cover a wide range of employees, including unpaid interns, contracted workers, state of Delaware workers and all private sector employees.
“As we have seen across the country – no one is immune to sexual harassment. It festers in every employment subsector, from healthcare to hospitality, and negatively impacts workers who are just trying to make a living for their families,” said Keeley.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://DelawareBusinessNow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/HB-360.pdf” title=”HB 360″]
Under the legislation, businesses with more than 50 employees would need to provide sexual harassment training to their supervisory employees within six months after they assume their role and have them undergo training every two years. The training would be performed by experts in harassment prevention, and include guidance on sexual harassment prevention as well as remedies available to victims.
“For far too long, sexual harassment has been treated as a fact of life,” said Senate prime sponsor. Stephanie Hansen, D-Middletown. “The reality is that harassment isn’t just degrading, insulting, and loutish — it also feeds a dangerous and oppressive culture that objectifies people, cheapens our standards of behavior, and can lead to more severe and threatening behavior. Society is finally coming to understand just how common this problem is, and how taboo it ought to be in the workplace and elsewhere. It’s time for our laws to reflect that evolution.”
The Department of Labor would create an information sheet on sexual harassment that would include specific definitions and information on legal remedies and complaint processes available through the department that would be made available to employers for employee distribution. The information would also be made available online.
HB 360 has been assigned to the House Labor Committee.
