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House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	November 28, 2017 09:40 AM
From:	Representative W. Curtis Thomas
To:	All House members
Subject:	PASSHEN (Pennsylvania Says Sexual Harassment Ends Now) Act

In the near future, I plan to introduce the the PASSHEN (Pennsylvania Says Sexual Harassment Ends Now) Act that would mandate sexual harassment training for Members of the General Assembly, officers, employees, interns and fellows of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. My goal in offering this important bill is to make Pennsylvania one of the few states in this country to take a firm stance not only against sexual harassment in the workplace, but also in helping to prevent it through education. While sexual harassment is recognized as a form of sex discrimination, which violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, federal regulations do not require employers to implement specific sexual harassment policy and mandated training. What my legislation will do is to 1. Require semi-annual sexual harassment training; 2. Provide some details on what could be included in training; 3. Require a periodic anonymous survey to query Legislators and staff about their experiences with sexual harassment or related inappropriate behavior, with a report to be submitted to the Ethics committees of both chambers; 4. Require a memo to be distributed to everyone employed by the Legislature on sexual harassment reporting procedures and also a memo to registered lobbyists expressing a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual harassment; and 5. Prohibit a Legislator or other employee from using taxpayer funds for sexual harassment settlements. My legislation is based upon S.R. 323 introduced in the United States Senate. I hope that you will join me in not just sending a message that we won’t tolerate sexual harassment, but also clearly establishing a standard to addressing this issue. Everyone should feel safe and comfortable at their workplace.

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