--- title: #MeToo Has Boosted Awareness, But Not Federal Complaints description: The federal agency tasked with investigating sexual harassment has seen its web traffic triple, but complaints have remained steady. canonical: https://time.com/5308836/sexual-harassment-metoo-eeoc-complaints/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-12T17:44:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:30:39.837Z article:section: Politics og:title: #MeToo Has 'Tripled' Web Traffic For the Federal Agency That Investigates Harassment og:description: But the number of complaints has remained steady so far. og:url: https://time.com/5308836/sexual-harassment-metoo-eeoc-complaints/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6208d12c6b8338ca/6988e53797cdff5ae16b3300/sexual-harassment-psychological-damage.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 7360 og:image:height: 4140 og:image:alt: Protesters against sexual violence in Toulouse og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: #MeToo Has 'Tripled' Web Traffic For the Federal Agency That Investigates Harassment twitter:description: But the number of complaints has remained steady so far. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6208d12c6b8338ca/6988e53797cdff5ae16b3300/sexual-harassment-psychological-damage.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # #MeToo Has 'Tripled' Web Traffic For the Federal Agency That Investigates Harassment > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=6224f466-9b2e-4ede-bf9f-1d45cd11bfc2&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jbtW5SvJ.m3u8) (5:02)  _Published 2017-12-06. For giving voice to open secrets, for moving whisper networks onto social networks, for pushing all of us to stop accepting the unacceptable, the Silence Breakers are the 2017 Person of the Year._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 12, 2018 5:44 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 12, 2018 5:44 PM UTC The federal agency tasked with investigating sexual harassment in the workplace has seen its web traffic triple since the [#MeToo movement](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers/) began last fall, according to an official, but the number of complaints it’s received has remained steady. Victoria Lipnic, the acting chair of the [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission](https://www.eeoc.gov//), which is tasked with enforcing civil rights laws affecting the workplace, said Monday that it may be too soon to judge whether more victims will come forward, since complainants have around 300 days to file a report. “While our workload has increased on this issue for all of our offices,” including boosts in requests for workplace trainings, she said, “we have not seen a big increase in charges filed.” Speaking after a meeting of the the EEOC’s [Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace](https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/task%5Fforce/harassment/), Lipnic said that better statistics will be available at the end of the fiscal year. Lipnic and her fellow EEOC commissioner Chai R. Feldman also said that, anecdotally, they have heard that there have been upticks in reporting in human resources departments and through internal systems at workplaces across the country. In many cases, they said, it could be that the issues are being resolved before complaints are filed at the EEOC. Either way, the #MeToo movement has had a resounding impact on American workplaces, which is why on Monday the EEOC huddled in Washington to discuss additional steps employers and policymakers should take to reverse current trends of workplace harassment. The federal agency reconvened a federal task force that had been formed to study harassment in the workplace under the previous administration. In a Washington conference room, stakeholders and officials gathered to discuss what Lipnic described as the “second and third generation” issues of harassment, including the legal sticking points that have come to the forefront and concrete, effective solutions to stopping harassment before it starts. The #MeToo Movement, Feldblum said, provided a unique opportunity “to leverage this moment to create significant and sustainable change.” Following months of work by the task force, in June 2016, the EEOC issued a lengthy report on the prevalence of workplace harassment, including harassment due to a person’s sex or race, how employers respond to it, and the effectiveness of existing prevention methods. That report recommended more research and data on workplace harassment, specific changes to harassment reporting procedures and an overhaul of anti-bias training programs. At the time, they’d hoped that the report would be ahead of the curve and useful, but some 400 days after it was released it ended up being far more crucial than they could have predicted. In October 2016, that the nation was rattled by allegations that Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein had assaulted and abused a bevy of women, as reported by the New York _Times_ and the _New Yorker_. The exposure of Weinstein sparked an international movement of women coming forward with their personal stories. Many used the hashtag #MeToo to share their stories; borrowing from an existing campaign to call attention to the pervasiveness of sexual assault and harassment. After the 2016 report, the agency launched a new training program that has sessions on bystander intervention and changing workplace culture. Lipnic said Monday that they have held around 200 sessions and trained about 5,000 people since the launch. An issue that has arisen in the wake of #MeToo that the report did not address, though, was the legal challenges that come with harassment cases. On Monday, the task force zeroed in on the legal mechanisms that are often used in these instances, including non-disclosure agreements and forced arbitration. Reports on harassment in the current moment have often shown how such agreements have kept some victims from coming forward. Those advocating for an overhaul of the approach to harassment have complained that the mechanisms shroud harassment cases in secrecy and protect employers while hurting victims. According to Suzanne Hultin of the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 20 states introduced legislation on workplace sexual harassment in 2018 and 16 of those states would limit or ban the use of non-disclosure agreements and/or forced arbitration under their proposals. Attorneys on both sides of the debate — managers and employees — offered testimony on the legal challenges, but the Commission is not planning to take a position on the use of non-disclosure agreements or forced arbitration anytime soon. In a conversation with reporters after the discussion, the commissioners said they convened the task force to consider those questions so they could be better informed in conversations with policymakers. “We wanted their wisdom about what the position should be,” Commissioner Feldman said. The task force also hosted several women who have already begun taking steps to address the issue of harassment in employment fields including the restaurant industry, hospitality, tech, and the media. Some of the strategies discussed were a Chicago-based effort to empower hotel workers who experience harassment, by equipping them with panic buttons for their shifts and given them cushion to report incidents. Another was a California restaurant owner’s strategy to encourage workers to report harassment from customers through a color-coded alert system. Many of the projects had been underway before #Metoo happened. Now, their work could be used to inform efforts across the country. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] We can't all be ****. We can't all be asking for it. I am here to give you permission to be angry. This reality might not have to be our reality anymore. I felt this crushing sense of powerlessness. This is the time to take my power back. Here's my story. Uber promises. Investigation into sexual harrassment. Fox News cutting its ties with Bill O'Reilley. I felt it was my duty for the women who are silent to be brave. It's okay to stand up for yourself. Taylor Swift appearing in court today. Harvey Weinstein, the New York- People forget a lot that there's a human behind this. Someone who was very hurt and wronged. [ MUSIC ] [ CROSSTALK ] I always thought maybe things could change for my daughter. I never thought things could change for me. [ MUSIC ] Honestly, I was furious. I have had a man grope me in front of multiple collegues and I was tired of wondering if it was something I wore, I was tired of wondering if it was a vibe I was giving off and when I talked to other women they were furious too >> I felt that if I can speak out, may be if I just stand up then someone else would stand up with me >> There wasn't a place For us to report these experiences. But I sure did talk about it a lot over the years. The least I could do was actually tell my own story and validate theirs for them in a way, just as I was hoping someone much bigger than me would help validate my story. And I knew that other women Would continue to apple for jobs there and that made me feel really uncomfortable. I was afraid of the retaliation, I know the power of patriarchy. I know what men can do when their angry. They did everything that they could to prevent me from raising my concerns further. They asked me if there were other girls, maybe that he has done this too and can I go get them. I had to show them that I wasn't lying And it's like they took me for a joke. And if they couldn't stop us from talking, well, they were gonna stop everybody from listening to us. People digging into my Instagram and pulling up sexy photos as if they kind of discredited me. Well, I've seen you in committee. You're really tough. Why didn't you just hit him? Why did you let it go on for so long? I was a smart young woman that had gone to college, that knew how to fight, and I still was manipulated and conned. I felt ashamed that I hadn't spoken out sooner, not having the strength earlier on to make it stop. The feeling of being humiliated as a woman And there's a point you think is it my fault? For so long I went around harboring this ridiculous belief that because I was a non white woman in my 20s, it was expected that I would have to be treated this way. We don't have to just live like this. Few things could change from my daughter I never thought things could change from me. I'm here to give you permission to be angry, people are afraid specially women where conditioned since birth to be polite. To be nice, to be kind, to be liked to not make waves. ****. We can't all be crazy, we can't all be ****, we can't all be asking for it. And I'm telling you that all the people who stand up, all the people who speak out you are teaching people how to treat and you should not be shamed for that. The shame is not ours to hold, the shame is on perpetrator. Me Too can be a conversation starter or it can be the whole conversation. It took away the power from the predator. And placed the power on the victim. And maybe, just maybe we would be able to get a glimpse at the magnitude of this problem. The amount of people sharing the stories with me is so intense. People that were complete strangers reached out to tell very personal stories. It's What they did with this and they did a lot and not only in France in Hong kong japanese. The most months >> I feel like the day that I spoke up and I said you are a sexual harasser I changed >> some of the. Things in the night. [ FOREIGN ]. It's an honor to be the person that hey I spoke up about this. I took on the risk. And I was very humbled and I was very proud. I'm very glad now that the story has been heard. It's a direct response to that arrogance and that show of power and [ UNKNOWN ]. A sense, we won't be silenced. 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