History

• United States federal employment law changed drastically in 1964 with the U.S. Congress' adoption of the Civil Rights Act. The Civil Rights Act made it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, color and gender. Congress created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
  
  

Features

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not expressly mention hostile work environment or harassment, but courts across the United States have consistently held that hostile work environment is included as part of discrimination. The courts define a hostile work environment as any workplace conduct that is pervasive and severe enough to cause a reasonable person to feel threatened or harassed.
  
  

Traits

• Hostile work environment, however, must be more than general discomfort in the workplace. It is not illegal discrimination, for example, for employees to harass a co-worker because of the co-worker's taste in music or movies. Instead, the harassment must be based on a legally protected trait, including race, gender, religion, national origin, color or gender. So, if employees harass a co-worker because of that person's religion, then this would constitute illegal discrimination based on a hostile work environment.
  
  

Employer Participation

• Employers are not necessarily liable for a hostile work environment created by their employees. Instead, the law requires some type of employer-approval of the harassing activity. For example, if a manager harasses an employee because of her gender, then the manager has discriminated on behalf of the employer and this is illegal discrimination. Similarly, if employees harass a co-worker because of the color of his skin, and the employer is aware of the harassment but does nothing to stop it, then the employer can be liable.
  
  

Equal Opportunity Policies

• Most employers, particularly larger employers, have established equal opportunity policies and procedures. The purpose of these policies and procedures is to provide a way for employees to report harassing conduct to the employer. As noted above, an employer generally cannot be held responsible if the employer has no idea the harassment is occurring. Therefore, the law requires employees to take advantage of their employer's policies. Employees feeling harassed, then, should report the harassment as directed in the equal opportunity policy. If that fails, then the employee can file a complaint with the EEOC.