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Relating to the prohibition against sexual harassment in the workplace.
HB 48 would establish that an employer, defined as a person who employs one or more employees or acts directly in the interests of an employer in relation to an employee, commits an unlawful employment practice if sexual harassment of an employee occurs and the employer, employer's agents, or supervisors know or should have known that the conduct constituting sexual harassment was occurring and fail to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.
While we are skeptical of holding an employer liable for conduct they "should have known" was occurring rather than conduct they actually knew was occurring, we understand this bill would bring employer liability for small businesses into alignment with that of larger businesses which would provide a more even application of the law across all sizes of businesses. For these reasons we remain neutral on HB 48.