The District of Columbia now requires that employers of all sizes that have one or more tipped employees, who earn tips as wages (i.e., those for whom a tip credit is taken) provide sexual harassment training by the end of the year and submit certain certification and documentation to the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR). Previously enacted in 2018, through D.C.’s Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act, parts of that law, including mandatory sexual harassment training, are just now taking effect.
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 have done so. According to OHR, the certified trainer the employer uses will provide a template of the report that can be emailed to tipsdc@dc.gov to satisfy this requirement.
Covered employers must also submit their sexual harassment policy and annual reporting of sexual harassment complaints for 2020, 2021 and 2022. The reporting must include the number of sexual harassment complaints and the number of accused harassers broken down by non-managerial employees, managerial employees, owners and operators. Employers must use OHR’s portal to provide this information. 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.
Next Steps for Employers
Employers should review their sexual harassment policy to ensure that it includes all the required components under the law and update it as needed. Covered employers should ensure that they distribute their sexual harassment policy to all employees and that it is posted the workplace in a prominent location that is accessible to employees.
As of 2020, employers also should have been documenting any complaints of sexual harassment to comply with the reporting requirements. Employers should ensure that they have accurate records ahead of the reporting deadline and should continue to document complaints of sexual harassment going forward.
