Accurate and Up-to-Date Courses 

Courts have now made it clear that employers must ensure that the person(s) who provide ethics and compliance training must completely understand the complex body of laws and keep up-to-date with new cases that constantly change the interpretations of these laws.

Why is this so important? Any effective compliance and ethics training is interactive and encourages participants to explore the nuances of laws and ethical topics. In an instructor-led session, participants will ask challenging and complex questions. The trainer must be able to give practical and legally accurate responses. An employer's worst nightmare is a trainer who gives legally inaccurate advice during training.

Trainers must be experts in laws on which they are training

In employee lawsuits, the plaintiff's attorney will seek discovery on the quality and content of the training and the expertise of the trainer. The trainer's qualifications to provide the training must be bullet-proof, and the trainer must be prepared to be deposed in any lawsuit that arises. In Cadena v. Pacesetter Corp., the employer appealed a jury's award of $300,000 in punitive damages in a sexual harassment case by arguing that it had provided harassment prevention training. However, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the award in part because the employer could not show that its harassment prevention trainer was qualified to provide the training. When questioned during her deposition, the trainer incorrectly answered questions about what types of conduct could be considered sexual harassment. The court ruled that given the

[trainer's] ignorance about sexual harassment, a jury could reasonably infer that [the employer] failed to make good faith efforts to adequately educate employees about its non-discrimination policy and Title VII.

Brightline's legal expertise ensures accurate courses