Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 495h(f)
EMPLOYERS: as of 2019
The Vermont Fair Employment Practices Act, located at Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, §§ 495 – 496, encourages employers and labor organizations to take all of the following actions in regard to sexual harassment prevention training:
- Conduct an education and training program for all new employees and members, containing all the sexual harassment prohibition information required by law, within one year of beginning employment.
- Conduct an annual education and training program for all employees and members containing all the sexual harassment prohibition information required by law.
- Conduct additional training for new supervisory and managerial employees and members within one year of beginning employment or membership that includes all of the following:
- Terms and requirements of the employer’s sexual harassment prevention policy.
- Supervisory and managerial employees’ specific responsibilities, including the actions required to ensure immediate and appropriate corrective action in addressing sexual harassment complaints.
Employers, labor organizations, and appropriate state agencies are encouraged to cooperate in making this training available. Violators of the sexual harassment prohibitions may be required to implement this training.
ADDITIONAL VT EMPLOYER HARASSMENT REQUIREMENTS
The training for new employees should include the information required in an employer’s anti-harassment policy, which is:
• A statement that sexual harassment in the workplace is unlawful.
• A statement that it is unlawful to retaliate against an employee for filing a complaint of sexual harassment or for cooperating in an investigation of a complaint for sexual harassment.
• A description and examples of sexual harassment.
• A statement of the range of consequences for employees committing sexual harassment.
• If the employer has more than five employees, a description of the process for filing internal complaints about sexual harassment and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the person or persons to which complaints should be made.
• The complaint process of the appropriate state and federal employment discrimination enforcement agencies and directions for contacting these agencies.
Additional training for supervisors and managers should include:
• The specific responsibilities of supervisory and managerial employees.
• The actions that these employees must take to ensure immediate and appropriate corrective action in addressing sexual harassment complaints. Frequency Annually.