On April 29, 2024, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued its first major revision to workplace harassment enforcement guidance in 25 years. The updated guidance reflects modern workplace realities, evolving complaint patterns, and key decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court expanding anti-discrimination protections, including protections for LGBTQ employees.
The revised guidance clarifies that unlawful harassment extends beyond sexual harassment and may involve conduct connected to race, sex, religion, national origin, and other protected characteristics. The EEOC provides detailed examples of conduct it may consider unlawful and emphasizes employer responsibility for prompt, well-documented investigations.
For employers, poorly handled harassment investigations can increase legal exposure, regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage, and employee distrust. This webinar provides a practical framework for conducting defensible, compliant workplace investigations aligned with the EEOC’s updated expectations.
When the appropriate response to a harassment complaint is unclear, initiating a prompt and structured investigation is often the safest legal course. Issues may be more serious than they initially appear, and failure to investigate appropriately can expose employers to liability, regulatory scrutiny, and reputational harm.
Well-executed investigations reduce employment law risk, reinforce workplace culture, and support defensible decision-making. In contrast, incomplete or poorly documented investigations may increase exposure and undermine employee trust.
This webinar provides practical tools to conduct investigations that meet EEOC expectations and withstand legal review.
Margie Faulk is a senior-level human resource professional with over 15 years of HR management and compliance experience. A current Compliance Advisor for HR Compliance Solutions, LLC, Margie, has worked as an HR Compliance advisor for major corporations and small businesses in the small, large, private, public and Non-profit sectors. Margie has provided small to large businesses with risk management strategies that protect companies and reduces potential workplace fines and penalties for violation of employment regulations. Margie is bilingual (Spanish) fluent and Bi-cultural.
Margie’s area of expertise includes Criminal Background Screening Policies and auditing, I-9 document correction and storage compliance, Immigration compliance, employee handbook development, policy development, sexual harassment investigations/certified training, SOX regulations, payroll compliance, compliance consulting, monitoring US-based federal, state and local regulations, employee relations issues, internal investigations, HR management, compliance consulting, internal/external audits, and performance management.
Margie is a speaker and accomplished trainer and has created and presented compliance seminars/webinars for over 16 US and International compliance institutes. Margie has testified as a compliance subject matter expert (SME) for several regulatory agencies and against regulatory agencies, thank goodness, not on the same day. Margie offers compliance training to HR professionals, business owners, and leadership to ensure compliance with workplace regulations.
Margie’s unique training philosophy includes providing free customized tools for all attendees. These tools are customized and have been proven to be part of an effective risk management strategy. Some of the customized tools include the I-9 Self Audit. Correction and Storage program, Ban the Box Decision Matrix Policy that Employers can provide in a dispute for allegations, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Compliance Guide, Drug-Free Workplace Volatile Termination E-Book, and other compliance program tools when attendees register and attend Margie’s training.
Margie holds professional human resources certification (PHR) from the HR Certification Institution (HRCI) and SHRM-CP certification from the Society for Human Resources Management. Margie is a member of the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics (SCCE).