EEOC Eliminates 2024 Harassment Guidance

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted 2-1 to rescind guidance on harassment issued by the agency during the Biden administration, eliminating the guidance without a public notice and comment period.

Issued in 2024, the was the first guidance in 25 years from the EEOC on harassment, and reflected “notable changes in the law, including the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, the #MeToo movement and emerging issues, such as virtual or online harassment,” the agency said at the time.

The 190-page document discussed covered bases and causation; discrimination with respect to a term, condition or privilege of employment; and employer liability for harassing conduct. Protected characteristics covered by the guidance included race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions), age and genetic information (including family medical history).

Within the definition of unlawful harassment, the agency delineated different types of harassment, such as mistaken perception harassment (based on the incorrect perception that an individual has a protected characteristic), associational harassment, intraclass harassment, intersectional harassment (based on two or more protected characteristics) and systemic harassment.

The new guidance was not without its detractors – not long after it was issued, , alleging that the guidance expanded the scope of Title VII liability beyond what is authorized by Congress.

In particular, the AGs took issue with the guidance as “an exemplar of recent federal agency efforts to enshrine sweeping gender-identity mandates without congressional consent,” according to the complaint. “Among other things, the [guidance] declares that Title VII requires all covered employers and employees to use others’ preferred pronouns; allow transgender individuals to use the shower, locker room, or restroom that corresponds to their gender identity; and refrain from requiring employees to adhere to the dress code that corresponds to their biological sex.”

On Dec. 29, 2025, the EEOC submitted a request to the Office of Management and Budget to rescind the guidance. The request was submitted as a final rule, as opposed to a proposal, which would require notice and public comment.

In response, several former EEOC Commissioners and DOL officials submitted a letter objecting to the request.

The EEOC published notice of an open commission meeting on Jan. 22, 2026, including the “Recissions of Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace” on the agenda. At the meeting, EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas and Commissioner Brittany Panuccio voted to rescind the guidance, citing President Donald Trump’s executive order that declared there are two immutable sexes.

Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal voted against the rescission and moved to postpone the vote until there was opportunity for public input.

Why it matters: While the guidance has been rescinded, its removal ostensibly does not change the underlying law, although it signifies the current EEOC’s disapproval of the agency’s previous expansive view of what constitutes unlawful harassment. In a press release about the rescission, Lucas said the change “does not give employers license to engage in unlawful harassment. Federal employment laws against discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and Supreme Court precedent interpreting those laws, remain firmly in place. The EEOC is committed to evenhanded enforcement of these laws. The agency will continue to be dedicated to preventing and remedying unlawful workplace harassment.”