Gen. Assembly/Safe Workplace Policies.

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 ASSEM BLY, 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 e arly 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 t he 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, 20 25, 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 believe s 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 i s 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 need to know in order to accomplish the purpose of the investigation 27
shall be provided with the identity of the complainant and the allega tions. All parties, including 28
the complainant and the alleged harasser, contacted in the course of an investigation shall be 29
advised of the necessity of confidentiality and that any breach of confidentiality shall be treated 30
as misconduct subject to disciplinary action. 31
(c) Adverse actions taken in retaliation against an individual for reporting sexual 32
harassment or other unlawful discrimination or for participating in an investigation of a claim of 33
harassment or discrimination constitute a serious violatio n of this Article and will be subject to 34
disciplinary action. 35
"§ 120-36.28. Independent third party. 36
The LSC shall contract with an independent third party to provide the following services 37
related to implementation of this Article: 38
(1) Confidential i nformation and advice to individuals who report improper 39
workplace behavior under G.S. 120-36.27(a). 40
(2) Investigative support and advice to the designated employee receiving and 41
investigating reports of misconduct. 42
(3) Investigative actions under G.S. 120-36.27(b). 43
"§ 120-36.29. Resolution. 44
(a) In order to facilitate an appropriate resolution, any report involving a legislator or 45
staff to a legislator will be brought to the attention of the relevant presiding officer as well as the 46
relevant minority leader. Any report involving an employee of the LSC will be promptly brought 47
to the attention of the Legislative Services Officer . If the investigation supports a finding of a 48
violation of this Article, prompt and effective remedial action will be taken. Respon sive action 49
may include training, referral to counseling, or disciplinary action as determined to be appropriate 50
under the circumstances, including referral to the LEC. Disciplinary action for a non -legislator 51
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
House Bill 493-First Edition Page 3
may include warning, reprimand, withholding of a promotion or pay increase, reassignment, 1
temporary suspension without pay, termination , or other punishment. Disciplinary action for a 2
legislator may include warning, reprimand, reassignment, expulsion, or other punishment in 3
accordance with Section 20 of Article II of the North Carolina Constitution. 4
(b) If the investigation does not support a finding that this policy has been violated, the 5
individual making the report and the individual against whom the allegation was made shall be 6
so advised. Both will be advised that retaliation for making the report is prohibited. 7
"§ 120-36.30. Appeal. 8
If a party involved in the reported incident does not agree with its resolution , that party may 9
appeal to the appropriate Presiding Officer within 10 days of receiving notice about resolution of 10
the complaint. Within 45 days, the Presiding Officer or designee will render a decision on the 11
appeal." 12
SECTION 2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the General Assembly, 13
Legislative Services Commission, the sum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) for 14
the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 fiscal years to be used to implement this act. The funds shall be 15
allocated as follows: 16
(1) Fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for literature, documents, and training 17
materials required for developing an infrastructure for a mandatory yearly 18
ethics training program that focuses on the identification and prevention of 19
sexual harassment, abuse, mis conduct, gender bias, and other forms of 20
workplace discrimination. 21
(2) Two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) for contractual services required 22
under Section 1 of this act. 23
SECTION 3. This act becomes effective July 1, 2025. 24