Animation Studio in NYC for the Training Local Law 96 Asks Every Year

Updated November 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

Since April 1, 2019, every New York City employer with 15 or more employees has owed its people an interactive sexual harassment training once a year, covering eight items Local Law 96 lists, with a signed acknowledgment kept for at least three years. The City’s own free module meets the rule. Many employers still want a version that shows their own complaint steps, their own kind of workplace and their own managers. An animation studio in NYC can build that version one required item at a time. Progression is based in New York, produces these modules for City employers from its own desks, and sits down with your HR lead in person whenever you ask.

A twelve minute cartoon with its only question at the end

A hypothetical mid-size Manhattan employer buys an animated harassment video. It runs twelve minutes, ends with one multiple choice question, never shows the company’s own complaint steps and has no moment where a coworker steps in.

The art was fine, but the law asks for participation and for the employer’s own complaint process. Items 4 and 7 on the Local Law 96 list are missing from the video. No real employer, logo or person is shown here.

Animation studio in NYC work, built on the City’s training law

Local Law 96 has been in effect since April 1, 2019. Employers with 15 or more employees train every employee each year, and the training must be interactive, which the law defines as participatory teaching that may use audio-visuals or an online program and need not be live. The Commission on Human Rights describes the duty on its Sexual Harassment Prevention Training page.

An animated module is one way to meet the participatory part, and it works only when each required item has its own scene and its own moment where the trainee chooses something. The Commission does not certify outside trainings, so the employer reviews the module against the law’s list before it goes out. Animation as a studio service, outside workplace training, is covered on our 2D animation studio page.

Who is not covered by this page?

Federal, State and City governments are outside the rule, and hiring, salary and screening rules follow other laws. This page does not describe them.

Eight required items, eight scenes

The table lays the law’s eight items in its own order, each beside the scene a module builds for it, the moment the trainee acts, what the employer’s file keeps and what the scene never shows. The law’s text is in Local Law 96 as the Commission posts it.

A New York animation studio that builds these scenes starts from the law’s list, not from a script of jokes.

A coworker who steps in, drawn three ways

The bystander scene shows three ways to step in, such as speaking up in the moment, checking in afterward and reporting through the employer’s channel. The trainee chooses one and sees what follows. The Commission lists resources on bystander intervention that the module can point to.

The chapter only managers open

Item 8 concerns the specific responsibilities of supervisory and managerial employees in preventing harassment and retaliation, and the measures they may take to address complaints. A separate chapter shows a complaint arriving at a manager’s desk and asks the trainee to choose the next action.

Interactive, with no trainer standing at the front

The law says interactive training is not required to be live or led by an in-person instructor, and it names computer and online training programs. Every item has at least one point where the trainee acts, the module cannot be skipped to the end, and feedback follows each choice.

The Commission’s frequently asked questions add that employees who take the training outside their regular hours must be paid for that time, and employers cannot require employees to pay for the data. The module runs on a work device or on paid time, and it runs on a phone as well as a laptop. It records completion without saving anyone’s answers to sensitive questions. Wider company film work sits with corporate video production.

• At least one trainee action in every item.
• No skipping to the end.
• Feedback after each choice.
• Runs on a phone and on a laptop.
• Completion recorded without storing sensitive answers.

What an animated harassment module costs to make

Pricing depends on scope, is subject to change and is set in the written proposal. The scope usually turns on the number of scenes, the manager chapter, the number of language versions and how the acknowledgment screen connects to the employer’s own records.

Published bands for animated training films

The bands below are market figures for finished video, drawn from the published low to the published high.

For how those bands arise, see video production cost. The written proposal sets the price for a module.

The acknowledgment screen and the file kept three years

Local Law 96 asks employers to keep a record of all trainings, including a signed employee acknowledgment that may be electronic, for at least three years, and to make it available for Commission inspection on request. The FAQ allows a certificate or a signed acknowledgment, on paper or electronic.

The last screen asks for the employee’s name and acknowledgment and produces a record the employer stores in its own HR system, with the training version and date. Where people train together on one screen, as the FAQ allows with the Commission’s module, the employer keeps its own sign-in sheet. The Commission keeps no record of who finishes its module, so the employer’s file is the only proof. System work for that file sits with HR software development.

What does the stored record contain?

The employee’s acknowledgment, the date, and the version of the module shown, kept in the employer’s own HR system for at least three years.

Who counts toward fifteen, and who sits the module

The FAQ counts employers with 15 or more employees, or one or more domestic worker, at any point in the previous calendar year. Independent contractors count toward the 15 whatever their hours, and so do employees based outside the City.

People who work more than 80 hours in a calendar year and for at least 90 days are trained, interns, part-time staff and contractors included. Someone trained elsewhere in the same cycle need not be retrained if they can show proof. The welcome screen asks nothing about status, and the employer decides who is assigned. A contractor who works for several employers can carry one certificate.

Animation studios in NYC that build these modules usually ship a short version for returning staff and a full version for new hires, and the law sets the content of both.

• Ask HR who worked in the City over 80 hours and at least 90 days.
• Count contractors toward the 15.
• Assign the module to everyone who qualifies.

What if staff are based outside the City?

Staff who work in the City more than 80 hours and at least 90 days must be trained wherever the employer is based, and someone elsewhere who regularly deals with City employees should be trained too.

When the Commission’s free module is the better pick

The Commission’s module is free, takes about 45 minutes, runs on a phone, ends with a certificate and meets both the City and State rules, provided the employer also tells employees about its internal complaint process.

A custom module earns its cost when the employer wants its own complaint steps inside the training rather than beside it, scenes that look like its own kind of workplace, a manager chapter written to its own reporting lines, or a shorter refresher for people trained in an earlier year.

The State has separate training requirements, and an employer that wants one module for both checks the State’s list with counsel. A custom module is a choice, never a requirement.

• Pick the free module when the standard training fits and the complaint process can be shown beside it.
• Pick a custom module for the employer’s own steps, workplace and reporting lines.
• Pick a shorter refresher for returning staff.

An animation studio in New York for staff who work in several languages

The FAQ says training must be accessible to employees with disabilities and to employees who speak a language other than English, and the Commission’s own module ships in eleven languages with audio descriptions and closed captions.

Plan the languages the staff actually read before any narration is recorded, keep on-screen text short so each language version fits the same frames, and build an audio described version for employees who are blind or have low vision. Access needs are described plainly and respectfully. An animation studio in New York that plans language versions at the start avoids redrawing scenes later.

• Confirm with HR which languages the staff read.
• Keep on-screen text short.
• Record narration after the languages are fixed.
• Build an audio described version.

Which languages should a module cover?

The languages the employer’s staff actually read, confirmed with HR before narration starts.

What a training animation never puts on screen

The scenes leave out a short list of things, however tempting they look in a storyboard.

• No real employee, client or case.
• No recognizable workplace.
• No graphic content or physical contact.
• No humor aimed at the person who reports.
• No City approved or certified by the Commission badge, because the Commission does not certify outside trainings.
• No promise that finishing the module protects the employer in a claim.
• No legal advice beyond the law’s own list.

The notice of rights in English and Spanish and the fact sheet for new employees are separate duties. The module may point to them but does not replace them. Legal questions go to counsel.

Can the module replace the posted notice?

No. The notice and the fact sheet stay separate, and the fact sheet reaches each new employee no later than the end of the first week.

Before the next training year opens

The annual cycle may follow the calendar year, each employee’s start date anniversary or another date the employer chooses. The checklist below covers what to confirm before a release.

• All eight items covered, each with a trainee action.
• The employer’s internal complaint process shown as it actually runs.
• Commission, State Division and EEOC contacts checked on the release date.
• Manager chapter assigned to supervisors.
• Acknowledgment screen tied to the HR file and kept three years.
• Language and audio described versions for the staff who need them.
• Module available on paid time.
• Notice posted in English and Spanish and fact sheet in onboarding.

A New York employer can also look at video production in NYC for live action work.

How often does the module need a refresh?

The law is checked again before each release, and the contact card and complaint steps are updated whenever they change.

Frequently asked questions