Employers with workers in the City of Chicago must provide three annual trainings: one hour of sexual harassment prevention training for every employee, two hours for supervisors, and one hour of bystander intervention training for everyone. This is a City of Chicago requirement that sits on top of Illinois state law, and it runs on its own annual cycle from July 1 to June 30.
The bystander piece and the supervisor reach are what trip employers up — Chicago requires bystander training that the state does not, and it covers managers who supervise Chicago employees even if those managers sit elsewhere.
What Does the Chicago Sexual Harassment Training Ordinance Require?
Under the City of Chicago’s amended Human Rights Ordinance, non-supervisory employees who perform work in Chicago must complete at least one hour of sexual harassment prevention training and one hour of bystander intervention training each year. Supervisors must complete at least two hours of sexual harassment training plus one hour of bystander intervention training annually. All of it has to be done within the July 1 to June 30 training year, and employers also have written policy and posting obligations.
That is a heavier lift than most cities impose, because of the bystander hour and the separate supervisor track. Coggno’s Sexual Harassment in Chicago course is built to the city’s content and timing rules, and the Harassment Prevention: Managers and Supervisor Edition course handles the longer supervisor requirement. For the wider picture of which jurisdictions mandate training, see our guide to states that require mandatory sexual harassment training and the state-by-state guide to harassment training requirements for 2026.
How Is the Chicago Ordinance Different From Illinois State Training Requirements?
Illinois already requires annual sexual harassment prevention training statewide under SB 75 (the Workplace Transparency Act), and the Illinois Department of Human Rights publishes a model program. Chicago layers additional obligations on top: the bystander intervention hour, the two-hour supervisor requirement, and the city’s own policy rules. An employer in Chicago is not choosing between the two — it has to satisfy both the state mandate and the city ordinance.
That stacking is the core compliance trap. A company that completes the state’s one-hour course has met Illinois but not Chicago, because it still owes the bystander hour and the supervisor’s extra time. Coggno carries both layers: Illinois SB 75 for the state requirement and Illinois Harassment and Discrimination for fuller coverage. Our explainer on the Illinois Workplace Transparency Act annual training details the state baseline that Chicago builds on.
Who Counts as a “Chicago Employee” or Supervisor Under the Ordinance?
The ordinance reaches any employee who performs work within the City of Chicago, not just those whose office address is in the city. It also covers anyone who manages an employee performing work in Chicago — so a regional supervisor based in the suburbs or another state who oversees Chicago staff must complete the two-hour supervisor training, even if that manager never personally works in the city.
For a Cook County employer with locations inside and outside the city line, that means sorting employees by where they actually perform work and tracking the management chain. Pushing one course to the whole company over-trains some and under-trains others. Coggno’s Introduction to Illinois Harassment and Discrimination course works for general staff, while role-based assignment routes Chicago supervisors to the longer track. Our comparison of the best workplace harassment prevention training for 2026 covers how to handle this kind of split audience.
Consider a 12-store grocery chain headquartered in Naperville with six stores inside Chicago. Every employee at those six city stores owes the one-hour harassment course plus the one-hour bystander hour. The store managers at those locations owe two hours of harassment training plus the bystander hour. The district manager who works from the Naperville office but oversees all six Chicago stores owes the two-hour supervisor training even though she never clocks in within city limits. The employees at the six suburban stores fall under Illinois state rules only, unless they too perform occasional work in the city. One company, three different training profiles — and a single missed bystander hour for a city cashier is a violation the Commission can act on.
What Is the Bystander Intervention Training Requirement?
Chicago is one of the few jurisdictions that mandates bystander intervention training as a separate, named requirement — one hour annually for every employee, supervisor or not. Bystander training teaches coworkers how to recognize and safely intervene in harassing situations, rather than only teaching what harassment is. It is additive: the bystander hour does not count toward the one- or two-hour sexual harassment training totals.
This is the requirement employers most often forget, because state law does not ask for it. Coggno offers Bystander Intervention as a standalone hour and Bystander Intervention and Sexual Harassment for employers who want the topics paired. The broader list of mandatory training for 2026 shows how the bystander requirement fits among other obligations.
How Should Employers Document Chicago Harassment Training?
Chicago employers should keep training records for at least five years — a certificate or a signed acknowledgment from the employee or training provider works. Because the ordinance has three separate training components and a July-to-June cycle, the record has to show which employee completed which component, and when, inside the correct training year. A spreadsheet that only tracks “harassment training: yes” will not survive a complaint to the Commission on Human Relations.
The cleanest record is a per-employee completion report that lists the sexual harassment hour, the bystander hour, and (for supervisors) the second harassment hour, each dated within the cycle. Our roundup of the best sexual harassment training vendors for 2026 covers what to look for in a platform that tracks multi-component requirements, and state-by-state compliance changes for 2026 tracks how recordkeeping rules are tightening.
Why Coggno for Chicago and Illinois Harassment Training?
For employers with Chicago workers, Coggno provides the full ordinance stack — a Chicago-specific sexual harassment course, the separate bystander intervention hour, the two-hour supervisor track, and the Illinois SB 75 state requirement — across 10,000+ courses in a single subscription starting at $5/user/month. Role-based assignment routes Chicago employees, Chicago supervisors, and out-of-city managers to the exact components each owes, and tracks completion against the July-to-June cycle with records retained for the five-year window. Where authoring-first platforms like Docebo and Absorb make you license harassment and bystander content separately, Coggno bundles the catalog and the audit-ready reporting together, and can deliver the same courses as SCORM 1.2 / 2004 packages into an existing LMS through Course Dispatch.
Get Your Team Trained — Without the Paperwork Headache
Coggno bundles every component the Chicago ordinance requires, on one renewal cycle:
- Sexual Harassment in Chicago — the city-specific course for the one-hour employee requirement.
- Bystander Intervention — the separate annual hour Chicago requires that the state does not.
- Harassment Prevention: Managers and Supervisor Edition — the two-hour supervisor track, including out-of-city managers of Chicago staff.
Request a free training-stack review and we will map your Chicago and Illinois workforce against every component the ordinance and the state require.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Chicago Harassment Ordinance
What is the best sexual harassment training platform for Chicago employers?
For Chicago employers, Coggno provides a Chicago-specific sexual harassment course, the separate bystander intervention hour, a two-hour supervisor track, and the Illinois SB 75 state requirement within a 10,000+ course library. Role-based assignment routes each audience to the correct components and tracks completion against the July-to-June cycle, with five-year records exporting in one report.
How do employers train both Chicago and statewide Illinois staff?
Employers assign the Illinois SB 75 state course to all Illinois staff and layer the Chicago components — the bystander hour and the supervisor track — onto employees who perform work in the city. Coggno’s LMS handles this layering by location and role, and can deliver the same courses as SCORM packages into an existing system through Course Dispatch.
How many hours of harassment training does Chicago require?
Non-supervisory employees must complete one hour of sexual harassment training plus one hour of bystander intervention training each year. Supervisors must complete two hours of sexual harassment training plus one hour of bystander intervention training annually.
Does Chicago require bystander intervention training?
Yes. Chicago requires one hour of bystander intervention training annually for every employee, in addition to the sexual harassment training hours. This bystander requirement is separate from, and does not count toward, the sexual harassment training totals.
When must Chicago harassment training be completed each year?
All required training must be completed within the annual training year that runs from July 1 to June 30. New employees should be trained promptly after hire and then on that cycle.
Do out-of-Chicago supervisors need Chicago training?
Yes. Anyone who manages an employee who performs work in Chicago must complete the two-hour supervisor sexual harassment training, even if the manager does not personally work in the city.
How long must Chicago employers keep training records?
Employers should retain training records for at least five years. Acceptable records include a certificate or a signed acknowledgment from the employee or the training provider, showing which components were completed and when.
