Groups that do training were the chief lobbyists for the bill, as its House sponsor artlessly noted when asked about the availability of seminars. Smaller employers tread a riskier path. Not every 50-person firm can afford to bring in its outside lawyer for an afternoon every time a new manager gets hired. Under the Connecticut law, incumbent managers can all be trained in a batch, but new managers have to get their dose within their first six months on the job. A nice touch is that while managers trained since October 1991 are considered re-educated for good, those trained before that date are given no credit, reportedly on the theory that such training is of no use in the World After Anita Hill.
Small employers are, of course, likely to look for low-cost training methods.
And the kicker is that the state Human Rights Commission has broad authority to enforce the rules, meaning that at some point it could begin declaring who is qualified to train and how. Mandated benefits are enough of a strain. If business isn't careful, it could wind up with mandated attitude adjustment. Elizabeth Altham assisted in the research for this article.