The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) started out 2026 by announcing several new procedural protocols and updated guidance and policy goals.
EEOC Revokes Harassment Guidance
On January 22, 2026, the EEOC voted 2-1 to revoke anti-harassment guidance previously approved by the EEOC in 2024. The guidance had defined for employers what constitutes harassment based on protected characteristics such as age, race, sex, religion and disability under federal law and had provided specific examples of workplace harassment.
At issue in the guidance was the section addressing gender identity and sexual orientation, which was added following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County in which the Court found discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation is prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Relying on Bostock and other cases, the guidance provided examples of prohibited conduct based on gender identity, including the intentional use of a name or pronoun that an individual no longer uses, known as misgendering or using a person’s “deadname”, and denying bathroom access to an individual consistent with their gender identity.
Current EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas voted against the guidance in 2024 when she was a Commissioner with the EEOC. At that time, Chair Lucas explained her view that Bostock protects against discrimination based on an employee’s gender identity or...
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