Alaska State Sexual Harassment Training Requirements

The reason for this is that a federal governing body called the EEOC describes and enforces sexual harassment and discrimination laws in the workplace. Read more at (EEOC Harassment). According to the EEOC sexual harassment and other forms of employment discrimination violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, (ADEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, (ADA).

Of the 31 workplace discrimination claims in Alaska in 2018, 44% were related to sexual harassment. The Alaska Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of a former employee who was sexually harassed by her former employer. In this case the sexual harassment had to do with giver her a disproportionate amount of strenous work, not allowing her into meeting that her male counterparts were attending and not answering radio communications while she was in the field. It was noted by the court that the employer had no anti-harassment policy and had no sexual harassment training.

In 2019, an Alaska state employee who says she was sexually harassed and injured by her supervisor filed a 19 million dollar sexual harassment lawsuit against the state. The Alaska State Commission on Human Rights determined that the injury was deliberate retaliation and that the employee was the subject of sexual harassment and discrimination.

Proper training and knowledge of sexual harassment could have vastly limited the liability of the employers in these instances. There are a number of steps the EEOC recommends that employers take to reduce their chances of liability for sexual harassment claims.

1. Implementing a strong and well understood sexual harassment policy.
2. Providing a robust sexual harassment training program for training employees and supervisors.
3. Establishing an effective complaint and grievance process, within which the employees do not have to fear retaliation.
4. An employer should act Immediately to investigate any complaint or grievance.
5. The employer should take immediate steps such as disciplinary action to stop harassment.
6. Employees should be encouraged to confront the harasser directly and inform them that the conduct is inappropriate as well as informing management and Human Resources

Sexual Harassment Training Tip: Prevention is the BEST tool.

By ensuring that employees understand and are well trained in workplace sexual harassment policies, employers can greatly reduce their chances of being liable for monetary damages in sexual harassment cases