EEOC: Promising Practices for Preventing Harassment in the Construction Industry
This document identifies promising practices for industry leaders to help prevent and address harassment in the construction industry. It recommends that general contractors take on a coordination and leadership role on the construction worksite.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the primary federal agency charged by Congress with enforcing the nation’s workplace civil rights laws. The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. The EEOC’s mission is to prevent and remedy unlawful employment discrimination—including harassment and retaliation—and advance equal employment opportunity for all through education and outreach, technical assistance, and enforcement.
This document draws from and builds upon the EEOC’s existing resources on workplace harassment, including the 2024 Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, the 2016 Report of the Co-Chairs of the Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace (“the Co-Chair Task Force Report”), and subsequent companion documents on promising practices. The practices discussed in this document may assist covered entities in meeting their legal obligations to maintain harassment-free workplaces and remedy harassment if it arises, which will in turn promote safety on the job.
