Category: Chapter 4

Chai R. Feldblum & Victoria A. Lipnic, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace: Report of Co-Chairs (June 2016)

“From April 2015 through June 2016, the Select Task Force held a series of meetings – some were open to the public for observation, some were closed working sessions, and others were a combination of both. In the course of a year, the Select Task Force received testimony from more than 30 witnesses, and received numerous public comments. The activities of the Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace are set out in detail in Appendix A.

The first part of this report considers what we know (and do not know) about workplace harassment. The second part turns to potential solutions for responding to, and preventing, workplace harassment. Several selections of the report include recommendations based on the information presented in that section. The recommendations are offered to EEOC, employers and employer associations, employees and employee associations, other government agencies, academic researchers, and foundations.”

Joanna L. Grossman, The Culture of Compliance: The Final Triumph of Form Over Substance in Sexual Harassment Law

“Why does sexual harassment persist despite nearly three decades of attempts to eliminate it? While courts have developed a comprehensive set of legal rules governing workplace harassment, the incidence of harassment has not changed. That is true, in part, because the rules of employer liability for harassment are calculated to ensure that employers adopt basic policies and procedures with respect to workplace harassment, not, surprisingly, to ensure that they actually prevent it. In both legal and extralegal discourse little or no attempt has been made to connect the legal regime to the actual problem of harassment. This Article remedies this inattention by reevaluating legal regime in light of an emerging body of social science literature addressing the causes of harassment, the effectiveness of various preventative measures, and the substantive and procedural adequacy of internal grievance procedures.”