New York City has followed the example set by the state. On April 11, 2018, the New York City Council passed several bills, which have collectively been called Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act (the "Act") in an effort to curb sexual harassment. On May 9, 2018, the mayor signed that bill into law. Like its counterpart in the state, the Act imposes mandatory anti-harassment trainings at all employers in the city with 15 or more employees. The Act's requirement for annual training is effective April 1, 2019. Importantly, and unlike the state law, the city Act requires the annual harassment training to occur within 90 days of a new employee's hire, and requires employers to keep records of all trainings for three years. Effective Sept. 6, 2018, employers must post the New York City Commission on Human Rights' (NYCCHR) new anti-harassment posters in the workplace, and distribute that information to new employees at the time of hire. The NYCCHR will publish this poster/information in the coming months.

The Act's provisions that take effect immediately include an amendment to the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) to specifically name sexual harassment as a form of discrimination, and expanding it to protect all employees (regardless of an employer's size) from gender-based discrimination/harassment; and an amendment to the NYCHRL to enlarge the statute of limitations for harassment claims to be filed with the NYCCHR based on gender to three years (currently one year).

Any employer that applies for city contracts, will now be required to submit its employment practices and policies that relate to preventing and addressing sexual harassment in the employment report required of any proposed contractor or subcontractor.

The Act also imposes several new requirements, including reporting and tracking requirements related to sexual harassment statistics on city agencies.

In addition to its substantive requirements, the Act pledges support for a federal bill known as Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Act of 2017, and urges the federal government to pass it and the president to sign it.

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