On January 23, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted 2-1 to rescind its “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace” enacted in April 2024. This is a move that was expected and was in line with an EEOC press release issued on January 28, 2025, where EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas was quoted as saying, “[t]he Commission’s harassment guidance was fundamentally flawed,”…and “[t]he EEOC must rescind the guidance and protect the sex-based privacy and safety needs of women.” The timing for this decision is also not unexpected, as a quorum was only established in October 2025 with the confirmation of Brittany Bull Panuccio.
Spilman previously reported on the enactment of the 2024 guidance here, which represented the first comprehensive update to the EEOC’s harassment guidance in over 25 years. At the time, many viewed it as a comprehensive interpretive resource explaining how federal anti-discrimination statutes like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 apply to workplace harassment claims. Indeed, the withdrawn guidance provided detailed explanations and practical examples of conduct that could constitute unlawful harassment based on protected characteristics such as race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, and age. It was used by employers to shape internal policies, training programs, and investigative protocols. By eliminating the document in its entirety, the Commission removed a key federal reference point...
"Here is a follow-up video capturing a classic moment from the Xi-Trump summit: While Xi Jinping was away using the restroom, Trump casually glanced through a small notebook Xi had left on the tab...