Brace for discrimination, harassment reports in remote environments

Now more than ever, employers are facing difficult decisions about workforce operations. In addition to the timeand attention-consuming obligations of on-site safety protocols, remote workforce policies, information and data security, and what to communicate to employees about vaccination rules, savvy employers are keeping up with their evolving expectations on the civil rights front. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court settled, once and for all, that gender identity and sexual orientation are protected "sex-based" characteristics under federal law in the landmark case Bostock v. Clayton County.

Employers in the education sector have, arguably, even greater expectations under Title IX regulations that went into effect in 2020 and that provide heightened due process protections and grievance procedures for addressing sexual harassment complaints that meet certain thresholds in education programs and activities.

Virtual environments can create real problems

Employers have more employees working remotely and online than ever before. This new reality comes with "pros" and "cons," of which anyone who has participated in a Zoom conference call knows all too well.

Granted, many employers are taking advantage of opportunities to reduce overhead with fewer workers on-site. They might even take the opportunity to table certain priorities, such as annual reviews, so they can focus on the more pressing issues of the day. We caution you, however, against taking too lax an approach on harassment and discrimination policies and training.