Texas sexual harassment training: the de facto standard SB 45 created
Texas does not impose a mandatory training cadence, but SB 45 fundamentally rewrote the standard for what an employer must do to avoid liability. Effective September 2021, every employer with one or more employees must take 'immediate and appropriate corrective action' on harassment, and the statute's employer definition reaches individuals acting in the employer's interests, creating potential personal exposure for supervisors and HR agents that Texas courts are still defining. Training is the cornerstone of a defensible response, even though it is not statutorily required.
Texas does not have a statutory training mandate. The requirements summarized below reflect best practice given the statute's expanded liability framework.
Coverage scope
Strongly recommended for all employees and supervisors; supervisors and HR personnel face potential personal exposure under SB 45 and need targeted training.
Duration & frequency
- Duration
- No statutory minimum. Best practice: 1 hour for employees and 2 hours for supervisors, mirroring the closest mandate state (California).
- Frequency
- No statutory cadence. Best practice: annually, to align with the 'immediate and appropriate corrective action' duty and the federal Faragher/Ellerth Affirmative Defense.
- New hires
- No statutory deadline. Best practice: within 30–90 days of hire or promotion to supervisor.
What a defensible program covers
Texas does not mandate training or prescribe its content, so there is no checklist to comply with. These are the elements that make a program hold up when the question becomes what you actually did about harassment.
Definition of sexual harassment under Texas Labor Code Chapter 21 and Title VII
Specific duties under SB 45, including the 'immediate and appropriate corrective action' standard
Personal liability exposure for supervisors and HR personnel under the amended Chapter 21
Reporting procedures and anti-retaliation protections
Bystander intervention
Realistic workplace scenarios, so employees and supervisors recognize conduct in practice and not only in a definition
Recordkeeping
Best practice: retain training records for at least four (4) years. No Texas statute sets a retention period; the federal minimum is one year, or until final disposition of any charge (29 CFR 1602.14). Four years conservatively covers the 300-day filing window plus the litigation that can follow.
Penalties & enforcement
No standalone penalty for not training. However, SB 45's expanded definitions and statute of limitations (300 days for harassment claims) mean that the absence of training is routinely used as evidence in Chapter 21 harassment litigation.
Texas Workforce Commission, Civil Rights Division (TWC-CRD); also EEOC for federal claims.
Fourteen or fewer employees?
You sit below the fifteen-employee threshold where the federal laws begin, and above the one-employee threshold where Texas sexual harassment liability begins. We run a fixed-price program built for precisely that position.
We map your roster to every mandate that applies.
Texas 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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