Press Release: Commission bids to outlaw sexual harassment at the workplace

On 7.6.00, the Commission adopted a proposal to ban sexual harassment at work. The draft directive, which also brings the longstanding equal opportunities directive of 1976 into line with European court judgements and new Commission antidiscrimination proposals under the Amsterdam Treaty, is a first attempt to tackle sexual harassment in Community law. The directive considers that sexual harassment is a form of sexual discrimination and thus entails a risk of liability for employers who fail to provide a workplace free of harassment.