Chicago Women in Trades was alarmed to learn that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) rescinded its Enforcement Guidance on Workplace Harassment, a comprehensive tool that assists both employers and employees with understanding, preventing and addressing workplace harassment and discrimination, at its January 22nd meeting. This key resource provided details and more than 70 examples to illuminate the pathway to safer job sites for all workers. When it was issued in 2024, it was the first update in 25 years and illuminated federal protections for workers based on their race, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and age.
This rescission happened with little notice and no opportunity for public comment, despite the significant public input that informed the guidance’s creation. In fact, CWIT was one of more than 38,000 comments supporting the strengthening of EEOC guidance, including clarifications that protections based on sex include sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions.
According to a 2021 national survey conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research of 2,600 tradeswomen, one in four reported experiencing near-constant sexual harassment, while one in five women of color described being subjected to always or frequent racial harassment during work. Chicago Women in Trades’ comments reflected on the real-life experiences of tradeswomen facing harassment on the job to ensure the strongest guidance would be issued by the EEOC.
On Wednesday, January 21st, Chicago Women in Trades attended a press conference with Women Employed, survivors, labor leaders and local officials to stand in opposition to the rescission of the guidance. Leaders from the Illinois Department of Human Rights, Cook County Commission on Human Rights, Chicago Commission on Human Rights, YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, Equality Illinois, National Employment Lawyers Association of Illinois, and CWIT’s own Cristina Barillas-McEntee stood together to make clear: workplace harassment remains illegal under federal law, and local enforcement agencies will continue protecting workers’ rights.
Cristina shared why tools to fight against harassment are so critical for tradeswomen, describing an environment where “your every moment is being watched; you are under a constant microscope,” and hyper-vigilance is required to stay safe. After the recent murder of a welder, Amber Czech, on her job site in Minnesota, these threats that tradeswomen face can have devastating consequences.
The guidance was a crucial resource when working with employers and apprenticeship programs to understand their obligations under federal law, a key tool to developing safe work sites. It also expanded workers’ understanding of their rights, particularly those who experience harassment across intersectional identities. Its absence will lead to further isolation of women and other gender minorities and people of color in the construction trades, and likely result in lower retention rates across underrepresented groups.
CWIT is opposed to this rescission, and is particularly disheartened that it happened without opportunity for input from the very communities, industries and populations most impacted by workplace harassment. We are grateful for partners, like the Illinois Department of Human Rights, who are upholding worker protections and community education across the state, and will continue to advocate for strong enforcement of laws that create dignity and safety at work for all.
If you are a contractor, an employer, a construction registered apprenticeship program, a training provider or an industry stakeholder who is invested in creating and maintaining a respectful and healthy work environment for trades workers, please contact CWIT’s Equity Resource Center at consulting@cwit.org and join us in our effort to establish work environments where everyone can thrive.
