An Inclusive Litany

8/22/97

Following a July lawsuit, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tried to get the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. to eradicate "ebonics" jokes in the workplace.

Writing in the Washington Post, Eugene Volokh catalogued what various other agencies and courts now regarded as workplace harassment:

  • Co-workers' use of the words "draftsman" and "foreman" instead of "draftsperson" and "foreperson."

  • "Men Working" signs.

  • Sexually suggestive jokes, even ones that aren't misogynistic.

  • Derogatory pictures of the Ayatollah Khomeini and American flags burning in Iran.

  • In the words of one court's injunction: remarks "contrary to your fellow employees' religious beliefs."

  • "Offensive speech implicating considerations of race."