Dr. Steve Albrecht: “Preventing Workplace Harrassment”

Join Dr. Steve Albrecht as he discusses some important new changes in the federal harassment laws that cover all employers. This session is for library leaders and staff who need to know how this affects their colleagues and the patrons they serve, and how to enhance and protect the health and strength of their workplace culture.

After a 25-year hiatus, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has finally released its new set of guidelines for all employers, to better understand Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act.

Issued on April 29, 2024, the report offers several important new changes as to how employers must classify “legally protected characteristics,” like age, race, skin color, pregnancy, lactation, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and prohibit mislabeling restrooms or misgendering someone.

The EEOC received over 37,000 comments from the public, businesses, and law firms. They have built a report that features 77 example scenarios of harassment, which cover issues like: enforcing policies in a Work From Home (WFH) environment; prohibiting what it calls “intraclass harassment,” where someone is harassed by a member of the same protected class; social media account harassment; and even workplace conduct that takes place over video-based meeting and training platforms like Zoom, or MS Teams.

This session will help all library leaders and employees to recognize and report workplace harassment; respond or participate in situations that require an intervention or investigation; support targeted victims; and enforce consequences for perpetrators.

LEARNING AGENDA:

• What are the new examples of “Legally protected characteristics”?
• Is one event enough to violate the law or library policy?
• What are some examples of “severe and pervasive conduct” when it comes to sexual or racial harassment?
• Do federal statutes impose “general civility codes that cover “run-of-the-mill boorish, juvenile, or annoying behavior,”
• How can PICs, supervisors, managers, and directors work together to set realistic, effective boundaries with sexually or racially harassing patrons?
• What if the harasser is a co-worker and not a patron? Is the investigative process similar or different?
• Do these new guides cover politicly-based speech as well?

About the Speaker

DR. STEVE ALBRECHT. Since 2000, Dr. Steve Albrecht has trained thousands of library employees in 28+ states, live and online, in service, safety, and security. His programs are fast, entertaining, and provide tools that can be put to use immediately in the library workspace with all types of patrons.  In 2015, the ALA published his book, Library Security: Better Communication, Safer Facilities. His new book, The Safe Library: Keeping Users, Staff, and Collections Secure, was just published by Rowman & Littlefield.  Steve holds a doctoral degree in Business Administration (D.B.A.), an M.A. in Security Management, a B.A. in English, and a B.S. in Psychology. He is board-certified in HR, security management, employee coaching, and threat assessment.  He has written 25 books on business, security, and leadership topics. He lives in Springfield, Missouri, with six dogs and two cats.