The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission proposed Monday enforcement guidance on workplace harassment after more than a half-decade of public debate and commentary.
The document is structured around the three components of a harassment claim, including determining whether the harassment is based on an employee’s legally protected characteristics; whether the harassing conduct resulted in discrimination with respect to a term, condition or privilege of employment; and whether there is a basis for holding the employer liable for the conduct.
Subjects addressed in the guidance include harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga. EEOC listed examples of sex-based harassment, such as intentional and repeated use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with an individual’s gender identity, as well as denial of access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with an individual’s gender identity.
Other sections address the scope of what constitutes a hostile work environment. Conduct that occurs in a work-related context outside of an employee’s regular workplace may contribute to a hostile work environment, EEOC said, including conduct in a virtual work environment.
“This can include, for instance, sexist comments made during a video meeting, racist imagery that is visible in an employee’s workspace while the employee participates in a video meeting, or sexual...
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