A recent letter sent by a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission field office to an employer is giving some employment lawyers pause. On August 3, the agency’s Buffalo office warned the employer—whose name was redacted in the document—that its policy prohibiting workers from discussing an ongoing internal investigation of harassment was unlawful.
The agency claimed that the policy was illegal under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits workplace harassment and discrimination on the basis of—including, but not limited to—race, sex, and religious belief.
