EEOC Updates Harassment Guidance - Arcoro
On April 29, 2024, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released updated Enforcement Guidance on workplace harassment—the first update since 1999—addressing new issues such as harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity (including outing and bathroom access), pregnancy and breastfeeding-related harassment, and remote worker harassment, while clarifying that harassment must be tied to protected characteristics like race, sex, religion, or disability, and providing examples of prohibited conduct including slurs, offensive materials, stereotyping, and use of AI-generated sexually demeaning content.
On April 29, 2024, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued updated Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the workplace.
The guidance, which hadn’t been updated since 1999, addresses harassment claims that have arisen over the past several years.
For example, the updated guidance addresses harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including outing a coworker’s sexual orientation or gender identity and denying a worker’s access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility based on the individual’s gender identity. The guidance also addresses other sex-based harassment dealing with pregnancy and breastfeeding and harassment of employees who work remotely.
Examples of Harassment
The EEOC enforces laws that prohibit harassment in the workplace. The harassment must be based on a protected characteristic, including race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, and genetic information. Being rude, teasing, or mistreating somebody because of a personality conflict, without a connection to a protected characteristic, does not violate the laws enforced by the EEOC.
Harassment can take many forms, including:
- Saying or writing an ethnic, racial, or sex-based slur.
- Forwarding an offensive or derogatory “joke” email.
- Displaying offensive material (such as a noose, swastika or other hate symbols, or offensive cartoons, photographs, or graffiti).
- Threatening or intimidating a person because of the person’s religious beliefs or lack of religious beliefs.
- Sharing pornography or sexually demeaning depictions of people, including AI-generated and deepfake images and videos.
- Making comments based on stereotypes about older workers.
- Mimicking a person’s disability.
- Mocking a person’s accent.
- Making fun of a person’s religious garments, jewelry, or displays.
- Asking intrusive questions about a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, gender transition, or intimate body parts.
- Groping, touching, or otherwise physically assaulting a person.
- Making sexualized gestures or comments, even when this behavior is not motivated by a desire to have sex with the victim.
- Threatening a person’s job or offering preferential treatment in exchange for sexual favors.
What Employers Need to Know
Employers have an obligation to comply with EEOC regulations, and it’s important to note that harassment by any person, including coworkers, customers, and clients, can violate federal law. Most employers with at least 15 employees are covered by EEOC laws (20 employees in age discrimination cases). Most labor unions and employment agencies are also covered. The EEOC has the authority to investigate charges of harassment against those employers. If the EEOC finds harassment has occurred, it will try to settle the charge via mediation or by taking legal action if necessary.
Steps to Prevent Harassment
The EEOC encourages employers to take these steps to prevent harassment:
- Develop a clear, easy-to-understand anti-harassment policy.
- Have a safe and effective procedure that employees can use to report harassment, including more than one option for reporting.
- Provide recurring training to all employees, including supervisors and managers, about the company’s anti-harassment policy and complaint process.
- Take steps to ensure the anti-harassment policy and complaint process are being followed.
The EEOC also advises that employers should consider if their workers experience barriers to comprehension, including limited ability to speak English, to read, or to understand the material, when the employers are creating, revising, or assessing the effectiveness of an anti-harassment policy, reporting procedures, or training.
How Arcoro Can Help
Along with reporting harassment, employers can use Arcoro’s Learning Management System (LMS) to deliver training to employees in harassment prevention. Through a partnership with Training ABC, customers have access to expert-designed harassment training, including state-specific courses. Managers can create learning plans for harassment training. Administrators can also upload their own training courses using SCORM, AICC, and xAPI formats. Employees can access the training 24/7 to learn in their own time, and completions are stored in secure, cloud-based software.
Taking steps to prevent workplace harassment can lead to a more productive, inclusive working environment.
Contact us to see how our LMS and other compliance solutions can help.
See a demo of how HR technology can help your construction business.
Related
HR Recruitment Process: Building Better Hiring Through Technology
Arcoro's applicant tracking system modernizes HR recruitment for small to midsize businesses in high-risk industries by streamlining hiring through integrated job board postings, automated candidate tracking, application management, screening tools, onboarding workflows, and compliance-focused planning and documentation features.
Defining Unconscious Bias During the Hiring Process
The article explains that unconscious bias in hiring—automatic, unintentional prejudices based on factors like race, gender, or age—persists despite anti-discrimination laws, can lead to illegal discriminatory practices violating EEOC regulations, and has resulted in costly legal penalties for companies such as Walmart.
2025’s Top Construction Workforce Challenges
In 2025, the construction industry faces its top challenge of a severe workforce shortage—with 288,000 job openings and 94% of firms struggling to fill roles—exacerbated by supply chain delays and rising material costs, requiring companies to enhance recruitment, especially among young people, and improve retention through competitive pay and culture amid shifting economic conditions.
Mandatory Training is Made Easier with Arcoro
Arcoro simplifies mandatory employee training and compliance by offering a Learning Management System that helps employers in regulated industries meet federal, state, and local training requirements—such as OSHA safety, sexual harassment, and occupation-specific certifications—thereby reducing legal risks, ensuring workplace safety, and fostering a strong, engaged workforce.
Demographic Shifts Heighten the Competition for Workers
The construction industry's worker shortage, reported by 94% of firms in 2024, is being intensified by global demographic shifts including declining birth rates since 2007, an aging population, and a shrinking pool of 18-year-olds entering the workforce, with projections indicating over 85 million unfilled jobs by 2030 and a 15% decrease in 18-year-olds by 2039, compounded by a decline in men over 20 participating in the labor force due to retirement and social challenges.
Learning Management System Software for High-Risk Industries
Learning management system software tailored for high-risk industries like construction and field services enhances worker training, safety management, certification tracking, and OSHA compliance by providing tools for standardized training delivery, real-time performance tracking, automated license management, and comprehensive regulatory documentation to protect employees and support business growth across multiple job sites.