"Leadership and accountability set the tone and the expectation that harassment will not be tol

"Leadership and accountability set the tone and the expectation that harassment will not be tolerated in a workplace." -- Victoria A. Lipnic, Acting Chair, EEOC Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace.

At a public meeting, one year after the #MeToo movement went viral, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) heard leaders describe various approaches that aim to prevent harassment and give employers and employees skills needed to respond when they experience or observe harassing behavior. The EEOC also released final fiscal year 2018 data highlighting its ramped-up efforts to combat and prevent workplace harassment. EEOC reported a 13.6 percent increase in sexual harassment charges and a 50 percent increase in lawsuits filed alleging sexual harassment. Hits on the EEOC's sexual harassment webpage doubled since the start of the #MeToo movement one year ago. In addition, as an outgrowth of the Report of the Co-Chairs of the EEOC's Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, the EEOC's Respectful Workplaces Training Program that teaches the skills to foster respectful interactions, reached more than 9,800 employees and employers across the country.