by Jade R. Lambert and Abigail N. Bortnick

Anyone who has not heard of the #MeToo movement may well be living under a rock.  A national conversation around workplace sexual misconduct took off in October 2017 following publication of allegations against Harvey Weinstein.  Since then, countless high-profile allegations of workplace sexual misconduct have been publicized.   

In 2018, an unprecedented volume of new legislation was proposed and enacted, expanding legal protections relating to workplace sexual misconduct, and requiring that companies improve their internal policies and practices relating to it.  In an article earlier this year (PDF: 417 KB), we detailed many of these new laws.  For example, some states expanded the population of protected individuals by either broadening the definition of “employee” or by lowering the number of employees required to trigger an organization’s obligations.  Other states passed laws eliminating confidentiality requirements and mandatory arbitration provisions in settlement agreements arising from sexual misconduct allegations.  And quite a few laws imposed new sexual harassment prevention training requirements.  New York City and State now require annual trainings by all employers, regardless of the size of the organization.  New York City has provided a training module on its website that can be used to satisfy the legal requirement.  Continue reading →