NWLC Reacts to EEOC’s Updated Guidance on Workplace Harassment
(Washington, D.C.) Today, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its updated enforcement guidance on workplace harassment, a version of which was originally proposed in January 2017 and blocked by the Trump administration. The guidance recognizes that sex harassment in the workplace can take many forms and intersect with harassment based on other characteristics like race or national origin. The guidance makes clear that prohibited sex harassment also includes harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identify.
The following is a statement by Emily Martin, NWLC Chief Program Officer:
“Every person deserves a workplace that is free from harassment, where they can be treated fairly, and with dignity and respect. This new guidance will help ensure that all employees can feel safe on the job. That includes transgender and non-binary workers, who are at particular risk of violence and discrimination at work and who have had to endure increasing levels of animosity as extremists have escalated their attacks against them in state legislation and beyond. There is simply no place for harassment at work. The EEOC guidance makes clear that federal law does not allow workplaces to be in the business of using harassment to enforce sex stereotypes about how employees should live, present, or identify. This is illegal discrimination, plain and simple.”
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