Sexual Harassment Training Requirements for Illinois Restaurants

Sexual harassment is never comfortable topic of conversation. For Illinois restaurants, it's a conversation worth having. Over 70% of female restaurant employees report being sexually harassed on the job, half of whom claim they experience it on a weekly basis.

Failing to create a safe work environment for employees is a moral failure on its own. Restaurants also risk incurring state and federal fines along with legal action from affected employees.

In 1967, a restaurateur left the comfort of an early retirement to break down barriers blocking others in the industry from growth. Lift HCM has been bulldozing roadblocks ever since. We’ll fill you in on the laws which state what’s required of the policies and training principles restaurant employers must provide. Then, we’ll discuss your options for administering training and keeping compliant through dinner service and beyond.

Buckle up, folks! We’re about to dive deep into the weeds on the training, policies, and standards Illinois restaurant must to uphold to 86 the sexual harassment in their industry. 

Sexual Harassment in the Restaurant Industry By the Numbers

 A 2021 study from One Fair Wage paints a harrowing picture of the prevalence of sexual harassment in the industry.

• Over 70% of female restaurant employees have been sexually harassed.
  • 98% of whom reported experiencing one or more instances of retaliation.
  • 37% said their harassment continued for over a month.

In another study by The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, 60% of women reported incidents of sexual harassment occurring on a weekly basis. 35% stated the behavior in question occurred almost every shift. Now accepting applications! Don’t everyone come scurrying to fill them out all at once!

These startling stats served as the gut-punch of a wake-up call Illinois needed to put meaningful preventative measures in place. But changing a systemic problem means changing the culture that enables it. While successfully changing a company’s culture may merit an all-hands-on-deck mentality, lasting change must ultimately come from the top down. 

Enforcing compliance meant getting bossy with the industry’s top brass, so good ‘ol Uncle Sam took care of that in the only way he knows how: he threatened to fine the crap out of them, wrapped it in some legalese, and stuck it all together with enough bureaucratic red tape to hang an intern from a lamppost.

Sexual Harassment Training Laws in Illinois

The two laws which play the largest role in shaping Illinois’ sexual harassment training requirements are The Illinois Human Rights Act and The Illinois Workplace Transparency Act.

The Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA): a law that protects workers from discrimination on the basis of age, sex, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and other factors.

The Illinois Workplace Transparency Act: requires all employers to provide annual training on preventing sexual harassment. This includes topics like highlighting inappropriate behaviors, identifying when certain behaviors may become inappropriate, and how to deal with complaints.

Illinois Governor, JB Pritzker, signed The Illinois Workplace Transparency Act into law in August of 2019, requiring employers to carry out sexual harassment prevention training by December 31, 2020, and continue to meet their training requirements on an annual basis moving forward.

Sexual Harassment Training Requirements for All Employers in Illinois

At minimum, sexual harassment training for all Illinois employers must:

• Define sexual harassment (because…c’mon).
• Discuss state and federal statutes prohibiting harassment in the workplace.
• List all remedies available to victims of harassment.
• Identify conduct which constitutes unlawful harassment.
• Walk through an employers’ role in preventing sexual harassment, listing responsibilities related to investigating and responding to harassment claims (including the implementation of appropriate corrective measures).

These requirements apply to all employers in the state of Illinois. However, restaurants and bars in Illinois are required to meet additional standards in an effort to curb the prevalence of sexual harassment in the food service industry.

Additional Training Requirements

Restaurants in Illinois are required to provide training in English and Spanish which:

• Calls attention to state and federal statutes prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace.
• Emphasizes that harassment can be perpetrated by or inflicted upon individuals of any gender (including individuals of the same gender).
• Reminds would-be offenders their behavior may carry civil and criminal penalties.
• Includes videos and activities which identify behaviors or interactions constituting sexual harassment in scenarios tailored to the restaurant industry.
• Reviews strategies for preventing sexual harassment.
• Details the responsibilities, liabilities, and legal obligations of restaurant-industry employers in preventing sexual harassment, responding to claims, and implementing corrective measures.
• Lists remedies available to the victims of harassment (e.g. cease and desist orders; hiring, promotion or reinstatement; compensatory damages; or back pay).

Restaurant employers must also include a definition of sexual harassment consistent with the IHRA in their training. This requirement is listed multiple times in the minimum training and policy standards for Illinois restaurants.

Sometimes, you’ve got to say it louder for the people in back; for the 6’2” single-cell organism asking the new girl to guess which server went to regionals for wrestling back in “the glory days” of ‘08 (it’s him) and whether or not she finds that hot (she does not).

Sexual Harassment Policy Requirements for Illinois Restaurants

Every restaurant and bar in Illinois is required to create their own sexual harassment prevention policy under Section 2-110(B) of the IHRA. This policy must include:

• Language which explicitly prohibits both sexual harassment and retaliation for reporting allegations,
• Details on how employees can confidentially report internal allegations of sexual harassment to managers, owners, HR departments, and other applicable parties,
• Instructions on contacting and filing charges with the IDHR and United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and…
• In a plot twist no one saw coming, it must also include a definition of sexual harassment consistent with the IHRA and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Your policy must also require all employees to complete sexual harassment prevention training. Illinois restaurants must distribute a written copy of their sexual harassment prevention policy to new employees within their first calendar week of employment.

A template of this policy published and legally vetted by the Illinois Restaurant Association is available here.

Noncompliance Penalties for Restaurants in Illinois

Enforcing the training and policy requirements we’ve discussed is under the jurisdiction of the IDHR. Complaints filed with the Department will trigger a compliance inspection in which you must prove that employees have agreed to adhere to a sexual harassment policy and completed a training compliant with Section 2-109 and 2-110 of the IHRA.

If the IDHR finds that you’re unable to provide the necessary documentation, the countdown timer starts. Illinois restaurants have 30 days to comply or face fines of $500 to $1,000 for their first offense. You do not want to be on the IDHR’s naughty list. As small as the penalties may seem, they add up fast for restaurants with dozens of employees.

How Do Illinois Restaurants Offer Sexual Harassment Training?

Illinois restaurants have three options for providing sexual harassment training to their employees:

• Use the model training program published by Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR).
• Develop a training program which meets or exceeds the minimum standards for sexual harassment training detailed in Sections 2-109(B) and 2-110(C) of the IHRA. This includes all supplemental standards required of Illinois bars and restaurants.
• Employ an independent human resources provider like Lift HCM to administer and document the completion of an IDHR-compliant training program.

Why Leave Your Training to a Third-Party Vendor?

Opting for the services of a third-party provider to keep up with your sexual harassment training comes with several advantages. Creating your own training or covering all the requirements in the IDHR’s program is a nice little headache to take off your plate. 

However, the real benefit is in keeping accurate, organized records confirming an employee has completed their training and agreed to adhere to your harassment policy. This makes it easy to submit documentation requested should the IDHR conduct a compliance inspection. Your provider will also ensure that you pass that inspection with flying colors (sexual harassment training is their jurisdiction, now, remember?).

Simply knowing you can immediately provide documentation at the IDHR’s request in a moment’s notice carries a peace of mind you can’t fully appreciate until you’ve been neck deep in a filing cabinet scrambling to find it all yourself.

When the people you’ve paid to provide a compliant training program also act as your go-between with Uncle Sam, you’ve ostensibly passed the mantle of responsibility for passing inspections to your service partner (enjoy the hold music, suckers!). In cases like these, enlisting the help of providers like Lift spares you from what might otherwise be a profoundly stressful headache to juggle in tandem with running your restaurant.

Knock-On Benefits of Partnering with HR Service Providers

The advantages of striking up a relationship with your friendly neighborhood human capital management firm extend beyond the services you’ve employed them provide. 

That could be payroll, recruiting, benefits, or any number of other agitants. Having that initial relationship in place makes it easier to call on them to take tasks stealing focus away from running your restaurant (e.g. payroll, recruiting, and benefits administration) off your plate.

You know the relief that a service partner provides in the midst of compliance inspections. Imagine having an intermediary on call to minimize your liability when filing taxes filings, cooperating with investigations, or surviving an audit.

How to Find the Right Service Provider for Sexual Harassment Training in Illinois?

The pressure is on Illinois’ restaurant-industry leaders to knock it out of the park on preventing harassment in the workplace. There’s so much at stake and a lot of moving pieces to align. Knowing what’s expected of you as an employer is the first step in complying with the rules and regs. But what’s step number two?

When partnering with a service provider, both ends of the spectrum of scale have their own perks and pitfalls. Understanding the benefits of a midsize service provider is one small step in the right direction.

However, you won’t be taking any giant leaps without knowing what independent providers bring to other roles in the restaurant industry. Until then, we hope this left you with some food for thought.

How to Find the Right Service Provider for Sexual Harassment Training in Illinois?

The pressure is on Illinois’ restaurant-industry leaders to knock it out of the park on preventing harassment in the workplace. There’s so much at stake and a lot of moving pieces to align. Knowing what’s expected of you as an employer is the first step in complying with the rules and regs. But what’s step number two?

When partnering with a service provider, both ends of the spectrum of scale have their own perks and pitfalls. Understanding the benefits of a midsize service provider is one small step in the right direction.

However, you won’t be taking any giant leaps without knowing what independent providers bring to other roles in the restaurant industry. Until then, we hope this left you with some food for thought.