City of Niagara Falls – Sexual Harassment Prevention Training (S9-23-2)

Issued Date
September 01, 2023

[read complete report – pdf]

Audit Objective

Determine whether City of Niagara Falls (City) employees and elected officials completed annual sexual harassment prevention training (SHP Training).

Key Findings

SHP Training was not provided to all employees and elected officials. Of the 65 total individuals we tested (59 selected employees and all six elected officials), 14 employees or 24 percent of employees tested, and five elected officials did not complete the annual SHP Training.

Additionally, the Fire Department cancelled the annual SHP Training for all 131 of its uniformed personnel, including six of the 14 employees in our testing that did not complete the annual SHP Training.

Key Recommendation

Ensure all employees are provided, and complete, annual SHP Training and encourage elected officials to complete the training.

City officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to initiate corrective action. Appendix B includes our comment on an issue that was raised in the City’s response letter.