Last month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC’) unveiled its highly anticipated Enforcement Guidance on Workplace Harassment.

After almost a decade of efforts to update its harassment guidelines, the EEOC’s new guidance delves into topics that are most relevant to the modern workforce. The guidance sets forth the EEOC’s position on its definition of “protected characteristics” and identifies workplace behaviors that rise to the level of harassment. These topics include, for example, the #MeToo movement which swept the nation with well-publicized lawsuits involving sexual harassment and sexual violence and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, where the Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects workers from discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.Continue Reading The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Issues New Guidance Regarding In-Office and Virtual Harassment in the Workplace

Chicago has adopted a first-of-its-kind ordinance that requires employers doing business in the City to provide separate “bystander” sexual harassment training to their employees. The ordinance seeks to combat workplace misconduct in Chicago and may serve as a model for other municipalities seeking to expand worker protections.
Continue Reading See No Evil, Hear No Evil: Chicago Ordinance Requires New Sexual Harassment and Bystander Training