EEOC Harassment Guidance Rescinded: What Employers Need to Know

Does rescinding EEOC harassment guidance change the law?

No. Rescinding EEOC harassment guidance does not change the law – Title VII and Supreme Court precedent like Bostock v. Clayton County remain in force – but it does remove a nonbinding interpretive framework many employers used to guide policies, training, and understand enforcement priorities. State laws remain intact and unchanged, and employer obligations, even if they are different from Federal priorities, persist. For some, the challenge will be resolving the conflict between state law and federal enforcement priorities.

What changed with the EEOC’s January 2026 harassment guidance decision

The EEOC formally rescinded its 2024 Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. That guidance, issued less than two years ago, had replaced decades-old agency materials and provided detailed examples of how federal anti-discrimination laws apply to modern workplaces.

With the rescission:

• The 2024 Harassment Guidance is no longer in effect
• Employers lose a centralized, up-to-date interpretive resource that many used for harassment and anti-discrimination policy drafting, training scenarios and facilitator guidance, and risk assessment and investigation frameworks
• EEOC leadership is signaling a narrower enforcement posture, particularly related to gender identity–based harassment interpretations, pronoun usage expectations, and access to gender–aligned facilities

Acting Chair Andrea Lucas emphasized that rescinding the guidance does not eliminate employee rights or remedies. However, it does remove the EEOC’s most recent, consolidated view of how the EEOC believes harassment law should be applied in practice.

What did not change after the EEOC rescinded its 2024 harassment guidance

Despite the attention surrounding the rescission, several foundational elements remain firmly in place:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is unchanged
• The Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County remains binding precedent
• Harassment based on protected characteristics is still unlawful
• Courts – not EEOC guidance – remain the final authority on how the law is interpreted
• State law fair employment practices laws remain intact

In short, the legal prohibition against workplace harassment remains exactly where it was before the guidance was issued.

Why the EEOC guidance change matters for employers and leaders

The EEOC’s 2024 harassment guidance was rescinded following a change in commission leadership and ongoing legal debate about the agency’s authority to interpret Title VII through nonbinding guidance. Critics argued portions of the guidance – particularly those addressing gender identity-related conduct – extended beyond existing statutory text and judicial precedent, raising questions about the proper role of the EEOC versus the courts.

More legal fragmentation, less federal clarity

Without a single, current EEOC framework to rely on, employers must now look more closely to:

• Federal court rulings
• State and local laws, which are often broader and more explicit
• Individual EEOC enforcement actions

For multistate and global employers, this increases variability in risk. What is clearly addressed in one jurisdiction may be less settled in another, making consistency harder to maintain without careful oversight. For many employers, adhering to behavior expectations that exceed federal and state law is often the best approach.

Gender Expression issues move from “guided” to “contested”

The rescinded guidance explicitly treated misgendering, pronoun misuse, and denial of access to gender-aligned facilities as potential forms of harassment under Title VII.

With the guidance gone:

• The EEOC has signaled that it no longer adheres to an interpretation of Title VII that extends protection in these areas
• Rights based in sex discrimination remain remain protected under Bostock and state-level protections
• Employers should expect continued claims – with less predictable federal agency positioning
• Employers should expect to see an increase in claims positioning religious accommodation against protections based on gender identity and gender expression and potentially claims of harassment

The practical takeaway, navigating this area of law and policy continues to become more complex for employers, with decisions potentially increasing risk rather than mitigating it.

Internal policies may go beyond legal minimums – and that is a choice

Most organizations have already adopted workplace standards that exceeded minimum legal requirements, reflecting company values around dignity, inclusion and respect.

The rescission does not require rolling those standards back. But employers should be considering how they will manage and address harassment and discrimination allegations made by employees with religious objections to policies, training, or behavior expectations. It is likely that most organization will be faced with such claims in the near future.

What employers should do now after the EEOC harassment guidance rescission

Here are recommended steps for employers in light of the EEOC harassment guidance being rescinded.

Review policies and training with precision, not panic

Now is an appropriate time to review your harassment and anti-discrimination policies for:

• Overreliance on phrases like “EEOC guidance requires”
• Language that may be alienating to segments of your employee population
• Overly restrictive language relating to religious accommodation practices

Update training without lowering expectations

Training should focus on values and behavioral expectations, rather than on legal standards and case law examples. Evaluate training content relating to gender identity and gender expression; carefully consider language that could create a conflict between your expectations and religious beliefs.

Training content is most effective when:

• It is relevant and realistic for your employee base
• Helps employees understand what is expected of them
• Helps employees navigate common grey areas

Explains expectations in the context of your organization’s values and standards

Respectful workplace expectations should remain intact. What matters is clarity around what is legally required, culturally expected, and driven by organizational values.

This distinction helps employees understand both their rights and their responsibilities.

Apply consistent, fact-based investigations and discipline

With less federal interpretive guidance, consistency becomes even more critical.

HR and compliance teams should:

• Focus on severity, pervasiveness and workplace impact
• Document investigative findings carefully
• Avoid treating any single behavior as automatically unlawful without context
• Be prepared to carefully evaluate claims based on religion – whether it is an accomodation request or a claim of harassment

Strong documentation and objective analysis are essential to fair outcomes and defensible decisions.

A moment for leadership clarity

The rescission of the EEOC’s 2024 Harassment Guidance does not signal a retreat from employee protections. It does, however, place greater responsibility on employers to interpret and apply the law thoughtfully – and to ensure that they have clarity around their values and how they apply to workplace misconduct, and that they. maintain consistent internal practices.

For HR and compliance leaders, this is a moment to reaffirm organizational standards, strengthen collaboration between functions, and ensure policies, training and investigations are grounded in both law and lived workplace realities.

NAVEX One Ethics & Compliance Training

No matter the legal guidance, harassment has no place in the workplace. NAVEX One Ethics & Compliance Training is designed to connect with your workforce with relevant examples and guidance on how to spot and address harassment and discrimination in the workplace. NAVEX courses reflect the realities of the modern compliance environment and are designed to combine amazing learning experiences with carefully constructed content that helps your organization navigate this environment effectively.