Chicago sexual harassment and bystander training
Chicago has the most prescriptive municipal mandate in the country. Every employer with even one employee within the city must provide one hour of sexual harassment training to employees, two hours to supervisors, and one hour of bystander intervention training to everyone, annually.
Coverage scope
All employees engaged to work within the geographical boundaries of Chicago, including those working remotely from a Chicago location, and their out-of-city supervisors. The ordinance sets no minimum hours and no employer size threshold.
Duration & frequency
- Duration
- Employees: 1 hour of sexual harassment training plus 1 hour of bystander intervention training. Supervisors: 2 hours of sexual harassment training plus 1 hour of bystander intervention training.
- Frequency
- Annually, on a training year running July 1 to June 30. Note this does NOT align with the Illinois calendar-year cycle, so a Chicago employer subject to both is tracking two different deadlines.
- New hires
- The ordinance sets no new-hire deadline for the training itself; complete it within the current July 1 to June 30 cycle. The written policy is different and must be delivered in the employee's primary language within the first calendar week of employment.
Every compliant program must include
Miss any one of these elements and your training fails the Chicago standard, even if every other detail is perfect.
Definition of sexual harassment under federal, Illinois, and Chicago law
Examples of conduct constituting unlawful sexual harassment
Summary of state and federal remedies
Description of the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance and reporting to the Chicago Commission on Human Relations
Bystander intervention training content for the additional one-hour module
Supervisor-specific responsibilities for preventing and correcting harassment
Recordkeeping
Records must be retained for at least five (5) years (or for the duration of any pending claim, whichever is longer) and produced upon request by the City.
Penalties & enforcement
Civil penalties of $500–$1,000 per violation per day until corrected. Plus posting requirement violations carry additional fines.
Chicago Commission on Human Relations and the Chicago Office of Labor Standards.
We map your roster to every mandate that applies.
Chicago is one of 11 jurisdictions in our compliance matrix. If your employees work across state lines, the mandates stack: different durations, frequencies, and content per location. We handle that.
This page summarizes publicly available statutes and regulatory guidance, last reviewed July 2026. State and local mandates change frequently; verify current requirements with the enforcing agency or employment counsel before relying on this content for compliance decisions. empathiHR clients receive a written compliance matrix updated against their roster and locations.
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Chicago is one piece of the picture. We inventory every state and city your employees work in, deliver compliant training per location, and produce the documentation your counsel will need.