Last month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to rescind its 2024 “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace”, marking a significant shift in federal workplace discrimination policy.
Looking Back at 2024 Enforcement Guidance on Harassment
The 2024 guidance was a comprehensive update to the EEOC’s approach to workplace harassment, representing the first major revision in over two decades. Its aim was to provide clarity for employers, employees, and those investigating claims of discrimination on what constitutes unlawful harassment under federal laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Key elements of the 2024 guidance included:
Modern Workplace Issues – 2024 guidance addressed emerging issues such as digital harassment (e.g., social media, email, or virtual meetings) and remote work environments.
Bostock v. Clayton County – 2024 guidance sought to integrate the 2020 US Supreme Court ruling that Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination extends to sexual orientation and gender identity by explicitly stating harassment based on these characteristics such as repeated misgendering, denial of access to bathrooms consistent with an employee’s gender identity, or failure to accommodate preferred pronouns and dress codes could violate federal law.
Broader Protections – 2024 guidance covered harassment across all protected categories (e.g., race, religion, disability) and emphasized that even isolated incidents could create a hostile work environment if severe enough.
Push Back on 2024 Guidance Leads to Withdrawal
The EEOC 2024 guidlelnes faced immediate legal challenges as critics argued overreach on gender identity issues. In May of 2025, a federal district court in Texas vacated the sections related to gender identity and sexual orientation nationwide, ruling that they exceeded Title VII’s scope and Bostock’s holding by expanding “sex” beyond a biological binary definition, which the EEOC acknowledged but nevertheless the full document remained unchanged until the last month when the EEOC decide to withdraw the 2024 guidance entirely stating the guidance functioned as unauthorized substantive rulemaking, going beyond the EEOC’s role in interpreting Title VII. Furthermore, guidance was seen as contravening Title VII’s plain text and the Texas court’s 2025 decision, which held that the guidance unlawfully extended protections for transgender employees (e.g., pronouns, bathrooms) beyond what Bostock required.
Implications for Sex Discrimination and Harassment Claims
Despite the withdrawal of the 2024 EEOC guidance, underlying federal anti-harassment laws and Supreme Court precedents like Bostock continue to offer robust protection to employees facing discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual harassment related to gender identity and sexual orientation. Broadly, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals in employment decisions on the basis of sex, which includes hiring, firing, pay, promotions, job assignments, training, benefits, and other terms of employment. This covers disparate treatment (intentional discrimination) and, in some cases, policies with a disparate impact on one sex. Harassment based on sex, such as creating a hostile work environment through unwelcome conduct severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment, is also unlawful. The landmark 2020 Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, takes Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination a step further by extending protections against sex discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Neverthleless violations of the law persist. Sex discrimination in the workplace, particularly harassment aimed at the LGBT+ community, remains a significant issue with high rates of reported experiences of verbal, physical or sexual harassment and discriminatory actions such as job termination, demotion, or denying promotions based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Contact an Experienced Employment Discrimination Attorney
When you experience an adverse employment action, including wrongful discharge, sexual harassment, or retaliation for making a complaint regarding sex discrimination in the workplace, it is important to seek legal guidance. Contact the employment discrimination attorneys of Alan C. Olson for help at 262-785-9606.
