EEOC Releases Proposed Workplace Harassment Guidelines After Six Year Delay

On October 2, 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") published long-anticipated proposed guidance related to workplace harassment. If adopted by the EEOC, the enforcement guidance would supersede four existing EEOC guidance documents issued during the 1990s, as well as a section of the EEOC Compliance Manual on harassment. Members of the public have 30 days from the date of publication to submit comments related to the proposed guidance.

As Proskauer previously covered, the EEOC attempted to publish guidance on workplace harassment over six years ago in January 2017. Now, more than six years later, the EEOC has released proposed workplace harassment guidelines. According to EEOC spokesman Victor Chen, it was approved in a narrow 3-2 vote. Chen also stated, in regards to the delay, that since the previous release of the proposed guidance, "some notable changes in society and the law have occurred, including the #MeToo movement going viral