North Carolina HB 493: General Assembly/Safe Workplace Policies.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 493

Short Title: Gen. Assembly/Safe Workplace Policies. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Dahle and Alston (Primary Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
March 25, 2025
*H493-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO CREATE A CONFIDENTIAL PROCESS FOR REPORTING AND RESOLVING 2
INCIDENTS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND OTHER IMPROPER WORKPLACE 3
BEHAVIOR IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, TO REQUIRE TRAINING TO PREVENT 4
WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AND OTHER IMPROPER WORKPLACE BEHAVIOR 5
IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, TO ADOPT CLEAR SANCTIONS, AND TO 6
APPROPRIATE FUNDS. 7
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 8
SECTION 1. Chapter 120 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new 9
Article to read: 10
"Article 7E. 11
"Safe Workplace Act. 12
"§ 120-36.25. Legislative findings; scope; definitions. 13
(a) The General Assembly finds that early reporting and intervention are most effective 14
in resolving actual or perceived incidents of improper workplace behavior, and the General 15
Assembly encourages the prompt reporting of incidents or concerns so that rapid and constructive 16
action can be taken before relationships become irreparably strained and before offensive conduct 17
continues or escalates. The General Assembly encourages good-faith reporting of all perceived 18
incidents of improper workplace behavior, regardless of the offender's identity or position. 19
(b) This Article applies to legislators, regular, full-time, part-time, temporary, and 20
contractual employees of the General Assembly, as well as unpaid volunteers and pages. In 21
addition, this Article applies to the interaction of these individuals away from the legislative 22
complex at legislature-sponsored events, professional meetings and seminars, and all activities 23
that involve legislative business. 24
(c) As used in this Article, sexual harassment means unwelcome sexual advances, 25
requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, nonverbal, or physical contact of a sexual nature and 26
exists when: 27
(1) Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or 28
condition of an individual's employment. 29
(2) Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis 30
for employment decisions affecting such individual. 31
(3) Exposure to such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering 32
with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or 33
offensive working environment, which is perceived by the victim to be 34
abusive or hostile. 35

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 493-First Edition
"§ 120-36.26. Mandatory workplace harassment prevention policies and education. 1
(a) No later than December 31, 2025, the Legislative Services Commission (LSC) and 2
the Legislative Ethics Committee (LEC) shall jointly develop, adopt, and implement "zero 3
tolerance" policies regarding sexual harassment, abuse, misconduct, gender bias, and all other 4
forms of improper workplace behaviors. The policies developed under this section shall be 5
incorporated by reference into each chamber's permanent rules. 6
(b) The policies required under this section shall include all of the following: 7
(1) Mandatory annual ethics training for all legislators, legislative officers, and 8
legislative employees of the General Assembly. The training will focus on the 9
identification and prevention of sexual harassment, abuse, misconduct, gender 10
bias, and all other forms of discrimination in the workplace. 11
(2) Effective and clear sanctions for incidents of sexual harassment, abuse, 12
misconduct, gender bias, and all other forms of discrimination in the 13
workplace. The sanctions shall be applicable to all legislators, legislative 14
officers, and legislative employees. 15
(3) A complaint and investigation process as provided in G.S. 120-36.27. 16
"§ 120-36.27. Reporting and investigation. 17
(a) An individual who believes the individual has been the subject of or has witnessed 18
improper workplace behavior should discuss the individual's concerns with any one of the 19
following: the head of the Human Resources Office, the independent third party retained pursuant 20
to G.S. 120-36.28, or the person designated by the majority and minority leaders of each 21
chamber. The person who receives the report shall take steps to resolve the problem informally. 22
(b) If the problem is not resolved informally to the satisfaction of the individual who 23
made the report, the person who received the report will promptly refer the matter to the 24
independent third party retained pursuant to G.S. 120-36.28 to conduct an investigation of the 25
complaint. All information will be maintained on a confidential basis to the greatest extent 26
possible. Only those who