EEOC Updates Workplace Harassment Guidance Resources

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been tasked with addressing allegations of workplace discrimination and harassment since its inception in 1964 as part of the Civil Rights Act. It’s been 25 years since they released new guidance on harassment in the workplace, but in April, the agency announced updated enforcement policies on the matter.

Between 2018 and 2022, allegations of harassment accounted for 34 percent of discrimination claims received by the EEOC. Total harassment charges actually increased between 2021 and 2022, so the commission has likely used this data as impetus to increase its focus on stemming harassment in the workplace.

What do the EEOC 2024 updates say?

In the past 25 years, the threat of harassment has increased along with vigilance for it, namely through the internet. The totality of technological advances in those 25 years is monumental to say the least, and so the EEOC had to adjust right along with it.

1. The 2024 harassment guidance updates, consolidates and replaces five guidance documents – regarding compliance and penalties – released by the EEOC between 1987 and 1999. These laws protect covered employees from harassment based on race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth or related medical conditions) sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age (40 or older) or genetic information.
2. Highlighting notable changes to harassment laws since 1999, the guidance includes the 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity under Title VII. Other issues like online harassment were also called for in this update, as were the detailed findings and recommendations from the Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace.
3. The 2024 guidance is a resource for preventing and remedying harassment and clarifying recent developments in the law. It includes over 70 examples illustrating unlawful harassment, including situations involving older workers, immigrant workers, and survivors of gender-based violence. It also illustrates how employees may be subjected to unlawful harassment not only by coworkers or supervisors, but also by customers, contractors, and other third parties.

In addition, the guidance addresses the growth of virtual work environments and the increasing impact of digital technology and social media on how harassment occurs in the work environment.

What constitutes online harassment in the workplace?

For example, say two employees, Zak and Sara, are dating each other, but the relationship ends. Zak refuses to accept the break up, and threatens to share explicit images of Sara that he received when they were dating. Sara still enforces the breakup, and Zak retaliates by sharing the images with their coworkers. This is against the law and constitutes a hostile work environment.

The punishment for this will depend on the state in which these two people work, and in some places, just the threat of sharing explicit images is a crime. As the first camera phone wasn’t introduced until November of 2000, it was crucial for the EEOC to finally implement court findings and new laws of this nature into its regulations.

Harassment continues to be a serious issue in American workplaces. Since 2016, more than a third of all discrimination charges received by the EEOC alleged harassment based on race, sex, disability, or gender. The challenges presented in a modern digital world have made addressing harassment in the workplace an even more complicated endeavor.

By providing this updated resource on the legal standards and employer liability applicable to harassment claims under the federal employment discrimination laws, the EEOC’s guidance will help people feel safe on the job and assist employers in creating respectful workplaces.