Sexual harassment training requirements by state: who must train, how often, and what records to keep

California’s Government Code section 12950.1 requires employers with five or more employees to train their California staff on preventing sexual harassment and abusive conduct. Staff outside California, contractors, unpaid interns and volunteers count toward the five. The training duty covers your California-based employees.

• How long. One hour for staff and two hours for supervisors, every two years. You can split it into shorter segments.
• When. New staff train within six months of hire, and new supervisors within six months of taking the role. Seasonal and temporary staff who join for less than six months train within 30 calendar days or 100 hours of work, whichever comes first.
• How. The training must be interactive: in a classroom, by e-learning or in a live webinar, with questions, exercises and practice scenarios. A qualified trainer creates or delivers it, such as an employment lawyer or an HR professional with at least two years of experience. A text-only course for staff to read doesn’t count.
• What it covers. Sexual harassment, abusive conduct, and harassment based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation, with practical examples. It also covers remedies, prevention, how to report, retaliation, what supervisors must do, and your anti-harassment policy, which every employee reads and acknowledges.
• Records. Keep them for at least two years: names, dates, sign-in sheets, certificates, the type of training, the materials and the training provider’s name. You hold them yourself; the Civil Rights Department (CRD) doesn’t collect them.
• Free courses. The department also offers free online courses, one for supervisors and one for other staff, in English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and Tagalog. Each person takes the course alone and saves a certificate at the end.
• Cost and time. You pay for the training, and staff take it on work time.

California also requires the CRD’s poster or fact sheet, and a written policy on harassment, discrimination and retaliation. If an employer fails to train, a court can order it to comply.

The Illinois Human Rights Act requires employers to train every employee every year. All employees must complete it by December 31, so this year’s deadline is December 31, 2026.

• Who. Every employer with staff who work in Illinois, wherever the employer’s head office is. The Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) says employers with one or more employees in its training FAQ, and more than one in its compliance checklist. Train all employees, including short-term and part-time staff and interns. Training independent contractors is optional, and IDHR strongly advises it.
• New staff. As soon as possible after hire, and by December 31.
• What it covers. What sexual harassment is under the Act, examples, the federal and state laws, and what employers must do to prevent, investigate and correct it.
• Free course. IDHR’s model training is free: slides or a PDF to download, or video and audio online, in English or Spanish.
• Records. Keep a record of every training for IDHR to review. The department gives no retention period.
• Restaurants and bars. Add supplemental training on conduct in your industry and on managers’ liability, in English and Spanish, and give staff a written policy.

An employer that fails to train violates the Act, and employees can file a charge with IDHR.

Chicago

Chicago’s Human Rights Ordinance requires every employer, of any size, to train staff who work in the city once in each training year, from July 1 to June 30. The current year ends on June 30, 2027.

• Who. Employees who work in Chicago, remote staff included, and their supervisors and managers wherever they work.
• How long. One hour of harassment prevention and one hour of bystander training for every employee, and two hours of harassment prevention for supervisors and managers.
• Using the state’s course. Illinois’s free model training covers the one hour of harassment prevention. Add the bystander hour, and the second hour for supervisors and managers.
• Records. Keep training records for at least five years. You don’t send them to the city.
• Policy and poster. Give every new employee your written policy in their first calendar week, in their primary language, and display the city’s poster.
• Fines. The city can fine you $500 to $1,000 for each offense if you don’t train, post the notice or have a written policy.

Delaware’s law, 19 Del. C. section 711A, applies to employers with 50 or more employees in Delaware. They give new employees interactive training within one year of starting, then every two years.

• What it covers. That sexual harassment is illegal, what it is with examples, the legal remedies and complaint process, how to contact the Department of Labor, and the ban on retaliation.
• Supervisors. Extra interactive training within one year of becoming a supervisor, then every two years, on their duty to prevent and correct harassment and on retaliation.
• Who’s exempt. Applicants, independent contractors and employees who have worked for you less than six months in a row.
• Information sheet. Every Delaware employer with four or more employees gives new staff the Department of Labor’s information sheet on sexual harassment when they start.
• Records. The statute sets no retention period.

Washington. The state’s rule covers hotels, motels, retailers, security guard employers and janitorial contractors with isolated employees: janitors, security guards, housekeepers and room service attendants who often work alone. These employers train their managers, supervisors and isolated employees on preventing sexual assault, harassment and discrimination, on protection for people who report, and on panic buttons. Keep proof of the training to show the Department of Labor and Industries on request. The law sets no cycle.

Federal law. No federal law requires private employers to train staff on sexual harassment. Title VII bans it at employers with 15 or more employees, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) encourages anti-harassment training for managers and employees. That training can matter in court. When a supervisor’s harassment creates a hostile work environment, the employer avoids liability only if it proves two things: it reasonably tried to prevent and promptly correct the harassment, and the employee unreasonably failed to use the protections it offered. The EEOC rescinded its 2024 harassment guidance on January 22, 2026; the law itself didn’t change.