or same-sex couples) with varying degrees of success. The federal government's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's guidelines issued about a year ago can be looked to as a standard in the field (Brooks, 1999, p. C5).
It should be noted that determined what constitutes workplace harassment -- whether it concerns sex, race, disability or something else -- is nearly always complex. But it is very important to do not only to protect the rights of workers but also because it is a big and potentially expensive problem for employers (Silverstein, 1998, p. A1).
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's last week guidelines explain employer liability, employee obligations and what steps should be taken to prevent and correct harassment and were designed to promote voluntary compliance with the equal employment opportunity laws by businesses across the country and so to protect the rights of workers while at the same time protecting businesses against liability (Brooks, 1999,
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