EEOC Releases Workplace Harassment Prevention Guidance
March 13, 2018
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issuedPromising Practices for Preventing Harassment, a guidance document that contains harassment prevention recommendations for employers in four broad categories:
- Leadership and accountability;
- Harassment policies;
- Harassment complaint systems; and
- Harassment training.
For eachcategory, the guidance lists numerous actions employers can take. Recommended actions include, forexample:
- Allocating sufficient resources for effective harassment prevention strategies;
- Crafting an unequivocal statement that harassment based on, at a minimum, any legally protected characteristic, is prohibited; and
- Conducting regular, interactive, and comprehensive harassment prevention training for all employees.
The document states that while the practices it discusses are not legal requirements under federal employment discrimination laws, they may enhance compliance efforts.
