The District of Columbia now requires that employers of all sizes that have one or more tipped employees (i.e., those they take a tip credit for) provide sexual harassment training by the end of the year and submit certain certification and documentation to the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR). These requirements were enacted in 2018 but are only taking effect now.
Sexual Harassment Prevention Training
Covered employers must provide sexual harassment prevention training to all employees, owners, and operators, by December 31, 2022. The training must be conducted by a certified trainer from the OHR-provided list.
Training must be provided as follows:
• For non-managerial employees, within 90 days of being hired (unless they received the required training from an OHR-approved trainer in the last two years), and every two years afterward. The training can be in person or online.
• For managers, every two years in person.
• For owners and operators, every two years, either in person or online.
Employers must certify to OHR that an employee has completed the training no later than 30 business days after they’ve done so. According to OHR, the certified trainer you use will provide a template of the report that you can email to [email protected] to satisfy this requirement.
Sexual Harassment Policy and Reporting
Covered employers must also submit their sexual harassment policy and annual reporting of sexual harassment complaints for 2020, 2021, and 2022. Employers must use OHR’s portal to provide this information.
As a reminder, beginning in 2020, covered employers were required to:
• Distribute their sexual harassment policy to all employees and post it in a location in the workplace that all employees can access; and
• Document complaints of sexual harassment.
Now covered employers are also required to:
• File with OHR a copy of their policy that tells employees how to report sexual harassment to the employer and OHR; and
• Report to OHR annually the number of sexual harassment complaints and the number of accused harassers broken down by non-managerial employees, managerial employees, owners, and operators.
OHR has clarified that covered employers must submit their sexual harassment policy and annual reporting for 2020 and 2021 by December 31, 2022. Documentation for 2022 must be submitted by March 1, 2023.
Action Items
• Review your sexual harassment policy to ensure that it includes information on how to report sexual harassment complaints internally and to OHR.
• If you haven’t already, distribute your sexual harassment policy to all employees and post it in a conspicuous location in the workplace.
• By December 31, 2022, submit a copy of your 2020 and 2021 sexual harassment policies to OHR.
• By December 31, 2022, submit your reports of instances of sexual harassment for 2020 and 2021 to OHR.
• By December 31, 2022, provide sexual harassment prevention training to all employees, owners, and operators, and report it within 30 business days to OHR.
• By March 1, 2023, submit a copy of your 2022 sexual harassment policy and your report of sexual harassment complaints for 2022 to OHR.
