Effective September 1, 2021, Texas expands the scope of its sexual harassment laws (TX S.B. 45 and TX H.B. 21) and extends the statute of limitations for sexual harassment claims.
Prior to the amendment, the law applied to those employers with 15 or more employees. The amendments change the definition of employer to include any person who employs one or more employees or acts directly in the interests of an employer in relation to an employee. As a result, all Texas employers are covered under the amended law, and individual supervisors and coworkers may be held liable for workplace sexual harassment.
The law also includes a new definition of sexual harassment and extends the statute of limitations for sexual harassment claims from 180 days to 300 days of the alleged conduct.
All employers should review and update any existing sexual harassment policies or adopt a sexual harassment policy which informs employees of the prohibition against workplace harassment and steps to take to report concerns. Employers should also provide sexual harassment training to all employees.
HR Works Can Help
HR Works offers customizable instructor-led harassment trainings as well as recorded harassment trainings through our Learning Management System (LMS). Visit our Training & Development page to learn more about our training solutions. Find more details about our LMS features and courses, and request a demo here.
