Federal Register / Vol.45,No. 72 / Friday,April 11, 1980 / 
Rules and Regulations     25025

Signed at Washington, D.C. this 3rd day of April,1980. 
Eleanor H. Norton.

Chair, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Accordingly, 29 CFR Chapter XIV, Part 1604 is amended by 
adding 1604.11 to read as follows:

PART 1604-GUIDELINES ON DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF SEX

1604.11 Sexual harassment.

(a)  Harassment on the basis of sex is a violation of Sec. 
    703 of Title VII. Unwelcome sexual advances,requests 
    for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct 
    of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when: 
    (l) submission to such conduct is made either 
    explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an 
    individual's employment;(2) submission to or rejection 
    of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis 
    for employment decisions affecting such individual, or; 
    (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of 
    substantially interfering with an individuals work 
    performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or 
    offensive working environment.

(b)  In determining whether alleged conduct constitutes 
sexual  harassment the Commission will look at the record 
as a whole  and at the totality of the circumstances, 
such as the nature of the sexual advances and the context 
in which the alleged  incidents occurred. The 
determination of the legality of a  particular action 
will be made from the facts, on a case by case basis.

(c)  Applying general Title VII principles, an employer, an  
employment agency, joint apprenticeship committee, or labor  
organization (hereinafter collectively referred to as  
"employer") is responsible for its acts and those of its 
agents    and supervisory employees with respect to sexual 
harassment     regardless of whether the specific acts 
complained of were  authorized or even forbidden by the 
employer and regardless  of whether the employer knew or 
should have known of their    occurrence. The Commission 
will examine the circumstances     of the particular 
employment relationship and the job     functions performed 
by the individual and whether he/she acts in either a      supervisory or 
agency capacity.

(d)  With respect to persons other than those mentioned in 
    paragraph (c) of this section, an employer is 
    responsible for acts of sexual harassment in the 
    workplace where the employer or its agents or 
    supervisory employees knows or should have known of the 
    conduct. An employer may rebut apparent liability for 
    such acts by showing that it took immediate and 
    appropriate corrective action.

(e)  Prevention is the best tool for the elimination of 
sexual    harassment. An employer should take all steps 
necessary to   prevent sexual harassment from occurring, 
such as   affirmatively raising the subject, expressing 
strong    disapproval, developing appropriate sanctions, 
informing      employees of their right to raise and how to 
raise the issue of  harassment under Title VII, and 
developing methods to    sensitize all concerned.