EEOC New Stance on Workplace Harassment - What Employers Must Update in their Policies and Investigations

Overview:

On April 29, 2024, the EEOC issued its first comprehensive workplace-harassment guidance in 25 years, consolidating earlier materials and updating how the Commission analyzes harassment across all protected characteristics. The guidance explains the “because of” requirement and totality-of-the-circumstances approach, clarifies when employer liability attaches, and squarely addresses today’s contexts—conduct over video meetings and instant messaging, as well as off-duty social media that spills into the workplace. It also includes concrete examples (for instance, intentional, repeated misgendering or restricting restroom access for transgender employees) and reiterates that retaliatory harassment is unlawful even when it doesn’t independently alter terms and conditions of employment. While not binding precedent, the document functions as the Commission’s current analytical roadmap and supersedes several legacy resources.

The update lands amid higher overall activity at the agency. In FY 2024, the EEOC received 88,531 new discrimination charges (about a 9% rise over FY 2023) and secured almost $700 million in monetary relief for workers across administrative resolutions, federal-sector matters, and litigation. In day-to-day practice, those numbers reflect familiar pressure points for employers: complaints that originate in hybrid teams and chat platforms where tone and context are easy to misread; investigations that cross time zones, tools, and devices; and the retaliation exposure that can surface in routine scheduling, assignment, or access decisions if responses aren’t prompt and well-documented. The guidance meets that reality by reinforcing prevention, clear policy language, timely complaint handling, and calibrated training that accounts for where work actually happens now.

The EEOC first released a draft in September 2023 after an earlier effort stalled during the prior administration. Since publication of the final guidance, one development has added complexity: on May 15, 2025, the Northern District of Texas vacated certain sexual-orientation and gender-identity portions of the 2024 harassment guidance, and the EEOC has updated its site to reflect that ruling. The broader anti-harassment framework remains; however, policy wording, training content, complaint procedures, and day-to-day administration—especially around pronouns and restroom access—should be calibrated with care so programs remain anchored in federal EEO statutes and any applicable state or local requirements.

Aligned with this landscape, the session focuses on: what the guidance says about covered bases and causation, how the Commission now illustrates unlawful conduct (including tech-mediated and off-duty behavior that affects the workplace), how pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions and transgender equity appear within the text, and what employers should review in anti-harassment policies, complaint procedures, training, and response protocols to reflect the current state of play—including where the 2025 court decision narrows the document and where obligations remain unchanged.

Areas covered in the session:

• Learn what impacted the EEOC to establish this guidance
• Learn what the EEOC determines as harassment
• Learn what types of harassment claims are determined to be based on the EEOC new guidance
• Learn what Covered Bases and Causation are when it comes to the EEOC guidance
• Learn how Employers need to review and update anti-harassment policies, complaint procedures, and training to align with the new guidance.
• Ensure policies and training address harassment occurring through technology and virtual platforms.
• Employers should learn to take immediate action to stop harassment based on any protected characteristic, including sexual orientation, gender identity, and pregnancy.
• Learn how off-duty conduct, especially on social media, could lead to liability if it spills into the workplace.
• Learn what happens when an Employee Asks an Employer Not to investigate
• Learn how Pregnancy, Childbirth, or Related Medical Conditions are part of the guidance and what Employers can and can’t do
• Learn how transgender equity is also part of the EEOC guidance and protections
• Learn how to develop an anti-harassment policy that meets EEOC guidelines

Handouts:

Attendees will gain access to exclusive handouts, including presentation materials provided by the speaker and additional resources developed by Amorit Education to aid your teams in post-session implementation.

Why should you attend?

If you’re responsible for policies, investigations, or training, this session gives you straight-line clarity on the EEOC’s April 29, 2024 harassment guidance—what it actually says, what it supersedes, and how the Commission analyzes “because of” and totality-of-the-circumstances across onsite, remote, and hybrid teams. You’ll see how tech-mediated conduct (video calls, chats, off-duty social media that spills into work) fits into the framework, using the Commission’s own examples to anchor your decisions.

We’ll also untangle the post-publication wrinkle: the May 15, 2025 Texas ruling vacating certain sexual-orientation and gender-identity portions of the guidance. You’ll leave with a clear reading of what remains in effect today—and where wording in policies, training, and complaint procedures should be calibrated with care (e.g., pronouns, restroom access) without losing sight of core anti-harassment duties.

Finally, you’ll translate the guidance into day-to-day operations: where programs typically falter (timing, documentation consistency, retaliation exposure), how to align policy language with investigation practice, and what to reinforce in manager training so responses are prompt, consistent, and defensible—without overhauling your entire approach.

Who will benefit?

Leaders and practitioners who own policies, investigations, training, or day-to-day conduct standards—and anyone accountable for aligning practice with current EEOC guidance; those include

• HR Director / HR Manager
• HR Business Partner (HRBP)
• Employee Relations (ER) Manager / Specialist
• Workplace Investigations Lead
• Ethics & Compliance Officer
• In-House Counsel (Employment)
• Learning & Development / Training Manager
• HR Operations / People Operations Lead
• DEI Program Lead
• Site / Plant HR Manager
• People Managers & Supervisors
• Small-Business Owners / HR-of-One