# BE HEARD in the Workplace Act Summary
This comprehensive legislation aims to prevent workplace harassment and discrimination by strengthening employee protections, requiring employers to implement anti-discrimination policies, and establishing new research initiatives and legal remedies.
**What the bill does:** The bill makes several major changes to employment law. It expands the definition of sex discrimination to explicitly include sexual orientation, gender identity, and pregnancy-related discrimination. It lowers the threshold for what constitutes unlawful harassment, clarifying that single incidents can violate the law and allowing courts to consider the totality of circumstances rather than requiring conduct to be "severe or pervasive." The bill requires employers with 15 or more employees to adopt and maintain comprehensive nondiscrimination policies and provide anti-harassment training. It extends the statute of limitations for filing discrimination complaints from 180 days to 4 years. It also prohibits most mandatory arbitration agreements for workplace disputes and restricts nondisclosure agreements that would prevent workers from reporting harassment or discrimination.
**Who it affects:** The bill applies to employers of all sizes, independent contractors, interns, volunteers, trainees, and workers in domestic service. It covers discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, and veteran status. Federal employees and state employees are also covered under specific provisions.
**Key funding and timelines:** The bill authorizes unspecified appropriations for various programs, including EEOC education and training, national surveys on workplace harassment, legal aid grants for low-income workers, and state-based worker advocacy systems. Research studies must be completed within one year of enactment, and the national prevalence survey must be conducted every three years. Employers must implement required policies and training within one year. Federal contractors must disclose labor law violations, with updated regulations due within nine months.