Sponsors (21)
Official title: Prevent discrimination, including harassment, in employment.
Introduced February 12, 2026 by Patty Murray · Last progress February 12, 2026
The bill substantially expands who is protected from workplace discrimination and strengthens reporting, enforcement, and support for victims—improving protections for many workers—while increasing compliance, administrative, and litigation costs for employers and adding implementation and budgetary burdens for government.
Millions more workers and workplace participants (employees of all sizes, independent contractors, interns, volunteers, applicants, LGBTQ people, and pregnant workers) gain explicit federal protections against discrimination and harassment because the bill lowers the employer-size threshold, expands covered classes, and extends Title VII‑style protections to nonemployees.
Employees (including people with limited English proficiency and disabilities) get clearer, accessible written policies, multiple reporting options, and mandatory interactive training for covered employers, making it easier to understand rights and report harassment or discrimination.
Victims gain stronger enforcement tools: expanded access to counsel and legal services, preserved ability to report despite nondisclosure clauses, longer filing windows for some federal employees, and clearer standards (including motivating-factor and hostile-environment rules) to pursue relief.
Employers—especially small businesses and contract vendors—face materially higher compliance costs and litigation exposure because protections are broadened, proof standards are eased, and remedies/penalties are expanded.
The bill creates substantial regulatory and administrative uncertainty: broad EEOC rulemaking discretion, new reporting and survey obligations, and requirements for agencies to reissue FAR/Labor rules will impose burdens and make employer obligations less predictable during implementation.
New monetary penalties and expanded remedies (including per-offense fines and potentially larger damage awards) plus authorization of uncapped federal appropriations to expand legal services increase financial exposure for employers and may raise taxpayer costs.
Based on analysis of 17 sections of legislative text.
Expands federal workplace nondiscrimination protections, mandates employer policies/training, extends coverage to non-employee workers, revises remedies, and funds a prevention/assistance grant program.
Creates a broad federal package to prevent and respond to workplace discrimination and harassment. It requires employers with 15+ employees to adopt written nondiscrimination policies and training, explicitly expands federal nondiscrimination law to cover sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy-related conditions, sex characteristics, and sex stereotypes, extends protections to independent contractors and similar workers, updates remedies and enforcement cross-references across multiple statutes, reissues contractor compliance rules, and funds a new grant program to support prevention and legal assistance.