It is undeniable that there has been a noticeable uptick in incidents of racist and xenophobic harassment across the country. While this behavior is often publicized when it occurs between civilians at the local grocery store, such incidents are increasingly prevalent in the employment context and can take place between and among all levels of employees. Harassing behavior can occur by supervisors and managers against subordinates by and between co-workers, and by nonemployees against employees.

In 2016, charges of workplace racial and religious discrimination filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) rose for the first time in five years. These charges often centered on allegations of harassment. Last year, harassment charges filed with the EEOC reached a seven-year high. Prompted by the dramatic increase in harassment complaints, the EEOC recently issued a 95-page report on unlawful harassment in the workplace. In the report, titled “Report of the Co-Chairs of the EEOC Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace,” the EEOC highlighted that nearly one-third of the approximately 90,000 charges received by the EEOC in 2015 included an allegation of workplace harassment. Additionally, the report mentions a study which found that up to 60 percent of employees have experienced either racially or ethnically motivated harassment in the workplace.

The rise of EEOC harassment charges is particularly worrisome for employers because in addition to the potential legal liability, unchecked harassment erodes workplace harmony, decreases productivity, reduces employee job satisfaction and may impair an employer's ability to retain good employees. In light of these realities, employers would do well to take all reasonable steps to help stem the tide of harassment in the workplace, and if harassment does occur, take prompt and effective steps to remediate the effects of the harassment and to prevent any further harassing behavior. The first critical step involves performing a thorough and critical review of current anti-harassment policies to ensure compliance with local, state and federal laws. Anti-harassment policies are often dense and difficult for employees to navigate. Employers should review, and if need be, revamp, their policies to ensure that they are comprehensible. In crafting or revising an anti-harassment policy employers should keep in mind that the goal of effective anti-harassment policies is to provide clear expectations of what behavior is inappropriate in the workplace. To that end, it would be helpful to include a nonexhaustive list of harassing behavior to assist employees in understanding the type of behavior that may rise to the level of unlawful harassment.