The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)’s mission is to prevent and remedy unlawful employment discrimination and advance equal opportunity for all in the workplace. The EEOC is responsible for monitoring federal agency compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws and regulations and assessing whether agencies are maintaining affirmative employment programs that promote EEO, in accordance with the federal government’s objective of being a model employer.

Equal Employment Opportunity Management Directive 715 (MD-715), issued October 1, 2003, establishes standards for ensuring that agencies take proactive steps to develop and maintain model EEO programs.^[1] These standards are also used to measure and report on the status of the federal government’s model employer efforts. MD-715 lists measures agencies must implement to stop and prevent workplace harassment, which remains a concern in the federal sector.^[2] Since at least fiscal year (FY) 2011, harassment has been the number one issue alleged in employment discrimination complaints filed against federal agencies. In fact, since FY 2018, harassment has been alleged in over half of federal sector EEO complaints.^[3]

In 2016, a report from the co-chairs of the EEOC’s bipartisan Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace identified five core principles that have generally proven effective in preventing and addressing harassment:

• Committed and engaged leadership.
• Consistent and demonstrated accountability.
• Strong and comprehensive anti-harassment policies.
• Trusted and accessible complaint procedures.
• Regular, interactive training tailored to the audience and the organization.^[4]

The Co-Chairs’ recommendations were aimed at a range of stakeholders, including federal agencies.

In 2017, the EEOC issued a technical assistance document entitled Promising Practices for Preventing Harassment that contains practices within these core principles to assist all employers in preventing and addressing harassment.^[5] Building on the 2017 document and other previous EEOC technical assistance and guidance, this document focuses on promising practices for preventing and addressing harassment within the federal civilian workforce. It is intended to serve as a resource to help federal agencies prevent and remedy harassment and to assist agencies as they work to update or revise their anti-harassment policies and programs. Many of the practices identified may also be helpful to practitioners outside of the federal government.

This document contains practices that are required by MD-715, as well as a non-exhaustive list of additional promising practices recommended by the EEOC. Although federal agencies are not required to adopt the additional recommended practices, they are strongly urged to consider adoption to improve their anti-harassment programs, prevent workplace harassment, and promote effective compliance with the law. An agency’s implementation of the identified practices does not constitute a defense to a harassment complaint, but it will enhance the agency’s compliance efforts. Harassment claims, like all claims of employment discrimination, are fact-specific, and analysis of such claims and agencies’ liability will be based on the applicable legal principles and the facts and circumstances of the claims.^[6]

Each section of this document provides a list of relevant requirements and recommendations. Some practices may apply to multiple sections and may be listed more than once.

Promising Practices for Preventing Harassment in the Federal Sector

Source: EEOC

Related: USPS Publication 552 Revision: Manager’s Guide to Understanding, Investigating, and Preventing Harassment