How Has EEOC’s Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace Changed?

In a long-expected move, on January 22, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to rescind the Biden-era 2024 Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, effective immediately. The rescission was approved by a 2-1 vote, with Chair Andrea Lucas and Commissioner Brittany Panuccio voting in favor and Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal dissenting. The rescission is effective immediately. Although observers expected some portion of the 2024 Guidance to be rescinded, the decision to rescind it in its entirety raises questions about what will replace it, if anything.

Below, we provide an overview of the original guidance and examine what its recission means for employers.

What was covered by the 2024 Enforcement Guidance?

The EEOC is the government agency charged with enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws. The 2024 Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace was a lengthy, comprehensive document that consolidated past guidance and provided the agency’s modern interpretation of what constitutes harassment based on race, sex, religion, age, disability, and national origin.

Guidance on Modern Issues

The guidance followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The 2024 Guidance took positions on how far Bostock should be extended, including finding that “repeated and intentional use of pronouns inconsistent with an employee’s gender identity” and denial of bathroom access consistent with gender identity constituted sex discrimination. Although these were issues that the Supreme Court had specifically declined to address in Bostock, the Biden-era EEOC concluded that they logically followed from the case’s ruling.

Additionally, the 2024 Guidance discussed digital and remote-work harassment in the wake of increased reported instances during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What Changed at the EEOC?

When EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas assumed leadership following the election of President Trump, she publicly opposed portions of the 2024 Guidance, particularly those relating to protections for transgender individuals. In addition, a federal court in Texas had invalidated those portions of the 2024 Guidance as not being required by Bostock.

Since President Trump’s inauguration, the EEOC has operated without a quorum and could not vote on policy changes. That changed in October 2025 when Brittany Panuccio was confirmed as the third commissioner, allowing the agency to issue new regulations. Now that the Trump-era EEOC has a quorum, last week’s recission comes as little surprise, although it remains to be seen whether it will put forth its own guidance.

How Will This Impact Employers?

Unlike federal statutes or Supreme Court decisions, which are binding law, agency guidance is exactly that—guidance. It signals to the public and courts how the agency believes a federal law should be interpreted and what it will choose to emphasize in its enforcement actions.

For that reason, recission of the 2024 Guidance does not alter employers’ obligations under Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA, or other federal statutes.

Bostock remains binding Supreme Court precedent, and courts—not the EEOC—ultimately determine whether conduct constitutes unlawful harassment. As noted above, at least one federal court in Texas expressly rejected the Biden-era EEOC’s interpretation of Bostock, but others have interpreted the decision more broadly.

State Legal Protections

State and local anti-discrimination laws also remain in full force. With respect to LGBTQ+ protections, in Virginia and other jurisdictions, sexual orientation and gender identity are standalone protected characteristics. The Virginia Human Rights Act, for example, defines “gender identity” broadly to include an individual’s gender-related identity, appearance, or characteristics, with or without regard to sex assigned at birth. The Act makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate on either basis.

These local protections operate independently of Bostock and are unaffected by changes in EEOC enforcement priorities.

What Steps Should Employers Take Next?

Although nonbinding, the 2024 EEOC Guidance signaled important positions on complicated, modern discrimination issues. Now that it is no longer in effect, employers cannot look to one comprehensive document for insight into how the EEOC will evaluate these problems. Instead, they must rely on the nascent body of caselaw.

Going forward, employers should not roll back harassment policies simply because the Trump administration’s EEOC has adopted a new enforcement philosophy. As discussed, some courts have interpreted Bostock in line with the 2024 Guidance, and local laws remain in effect.

Employers should continue to take the following steps to address workplace harassment:

• Implement robust anti-harassment policies, not only for sexual harassment but for all protected characteristics, such as race, disability, age, national origin, religion, etc.
• Train employees on how to recognize, respond to, and report harassment
• Implement clear reporting and complaint procedures and enforce them consistently
• Include social media and technology use policies, including email, Slack, Signal, Teams, or Zoom. Remind employees that harassment can happen anywhere, including online, and that social media posts and communications on company devices and platforms are not private

If you have any questions about anti-harassment policies, need to schedule a harassment training, or face a claim of discrimination, please contact the authors of this article or a member of the Woods Rogers Labor & Employment team.