On January 22, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to rescind its 2024 Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, with the repeal taking immediate effect. The 2024 Guidance had consolidated prior agency materials and addressed modern workplace issues, including digital harassment, the impact of the #MeToo movement, and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity following the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County. Although the Commission withdrew the guidance in its entirety, the rescission does not alter federal anti-harassment law because the document was non-binding and did not carry the force of law.
The 2024 Guidance had previously been partially vacated in May 2025 by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which concluded that the EEOC exceeded its authority in certain interpretations relating to LGBTQ issues and misapplied Bostock. Now the EEOC has repealed the guidance as a whole.
Notwithstanding the repeal, Bostock remains the controlling precedent holding that Title VII prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. However, the Supreme Court in Bostock expressly stated that it was not addressing issues such as bathrooms, locker rooms, pronoun usage, or similar matters, describing those as questions for future cases. In the years since Bostock, courts have reached differing conclusions regarding the scope of its protections. Additionally, state and local anti-discrimination laws remain fully operative, and private plaintiffs may pursue Title VII claims after exhausting administrative requirements, regardless of the EEOC’s enforcement guidance.