Can You Sue for Sexual Harassment in California?
Yes. You can sue for sexual harassment in California when the conduct meets the applicable legal requirements. You do not have to lose your job or experience sexual assault to have a sexual harassment claim. Avloni Law’s California sexual harassment lawyers help California employees evaluate their legal rights after they have been sexually harassed and consider options for holding employers and individual harassers accountable.
Not every instance of offensive conduct is workplace harassment supporting a civil lawsuit. In California sexual harassment cases, the conduct, its context, the parties involved, and filing deadlines matter. Our guide to identifying and reporting sexual harassment in the workplace explains how to recognize and report inappropriate behavior.
Two major sexual harassment laws protect California workers: California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and federal Title VII. California law often provides broader protections than federal law in certain circumstances. Understanding their differences helps determine whom you can sue, what evidence matters, and what remedies may be available.
What Laws Protect Employees From Sexual Harassment?
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits sex discrimination, including workplace sexual harassment. California employees may have protections under both federal law and California law, and this federal law generally covers employers with at least 15 employees.
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) provides broader coverage. Although many FEHA employment discrimination provisions generally apply to employers with five or more employees, its sexual harassment protections generally reach employers with just one employee. California law also protects job applicants, qualifying independent contractors, unpaid interns, and volunteers against sexual harassment.
These protections can apply across the employment relationship, including for part-time, contract, remote, and traveling workers.
The California Civil Rights Department (CRD), formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, enforces FEHA. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces Title VII. State law and federal law have different filing procedures and remedies.
Other California sexual harassment laws address misconduct in certain business or professional relationships outside employment, such as relationships involving landlords or healthcare providers. The appropriate legal framework depends on the relationship and conduct involved, and some victims may also pursue a civil claim.
What Does Someone Need to Prove to Sue for Sexual Harassment?
A viable sexual harassment claim generally requires proof of unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature or based on an employee’s sex, a basis for defendant liability, and harm caused by the conduct. Two common theories address workplace sexual harassment.
Quid pro quo harassment involves conditioning employment benefits or decisions on submission to sexual conduct, so it affects the terms or conditions of employment. Examples include offering a promotion for sexual favors or threatening termination for refusing them.
Hostile work environment harassment involves unwelcome conduct that is severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile, intimidating, or offensive work environment based on an employee’s sex. Both your experience and how a reasonable person in your circumstances would view the conduct matter.
To be actionable harassment, unwelcome sexual conduct must affect the terms or conditions of employment.
Sexual harassment can include conduct of a sexual nature, such as sexual comments, repeated propositions, unwanted sexual advances, explicit messages, and inappropriate images. Sexual harassment does not need to involve physical touching, sexual assault, or even sexual desire.
A single sufficiently severe incident can support a legal claim. Repeated conduct can also qualify when considered together. California law examines the circumstances, including frequency, severity, and workplace impact; you do not have to prove that your productivity declined. Neither physical violence nor termination is required.
When Can an Employer Be Held Responsible for Harassment?
Under FEHA, an employer is strictly liable for sexual harassment by its supervisors. You generally do not need to prove that management knew beforehand. Federal law uses a different framework, so the same liability rule should not automatically be applied to Title VII claims.
For coworker sexual harassment, California law generally requires showing that the employer knew or should have known and failed to take immediate, appropriate corrective action. Employers can also be responsible for sexual harassment by customers, vendors, contractors, or other nonemployees, with consideration given to their control over the circumstances.
California law requires covered employers to maintain a written anti-harassment policy and provide prompt, fair investigations and appropriate corrective measures. The policy should be in writing, distributed to employees, and identify reporting contacts. A sexual harassment policy alone does not establish that an employer fulfilled its obligations. You should preserve records showing what management knew, when complaints were made, and what happened afterward to help prove your employer failed to take action. Retaliation for reporting harassment is illegal and may support a separate claim.
What Evidence Can Strengthen a Sexual Harassment Lawsuit?
In California sexual harassment cases, documentation is crucial because it helps establish what happened and when. Gather relevant materials you can lawfully access, including:
- Emails
- Text messages
- Workplace chats messages
- Social media communications
- Photographs or inappropriate images
- Written complaints
- Employer responses
- Investigation communications
- Applicable workplace policies
- Performance reviews
- Disciplinary documents
- Termination notices.
Maintain a dated chronology describing incidents, exact words you remember, locations, and witnesses. Identify people who observed the conduct and those you told shortly afterward. Also document reports made to HR, supervisors, or others in a timely manner. Employment records may help show changes in treatment after a complaint, which can establish a retaliation claim.
Keep complete message threads and original files where possible. Do not alter, delete, or selectively edit evidence, including material you find embarrassing. Original documents will be viewed as more trustworthy compared to modified documents. Avoid taking unrelated confidential company information, accessing accounts without authorization, or secretly recording anyone, as this may harm you and your claims.
Documentation helps, but lacking screenshots or eyewitnesses does not automatically defeat a claim. Sexual harassment victims can still proceed because their own testimony is evidence.
How Do You Start a Sexual Harassment Lawsuit in California?
Start by organizing your records and obtaining information about reporting and deadlines. Reviewing the employer’s anti-harassment reporting procedure can also help you get started. Internal reporting to the employer can help establish notice and allow corrective action, but it is not the same as filing an administrative complaint. Failing to report internally does not automatically defeat a sexual harassment claim, although it can affect liability or recoverable damages. Discuss safety concerns and fear of retaliation with an attorney when deciding how to report.
Before pursuing a FEHA civil lawsuit, you generally must file a sexual harassment complaint with the California Civil Rights Department and obtain a right-to-sue notice, sometimes called a right-to-sue letter. The California Civil Rights Department was formerly known as the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. You may request an immediate notice rather than an agency investigation. Deciding how to proceed with the CRD should be made after consulting with an attorney because the CRD will not investigate after issuing the immediate right-to-sue notice.
Federal law requires an EEOC charge and the appropriate authorization before a Title VII lawsuit. Do not assume an immediate CRD right-to-sue letter also satisfies federal requirements.
Your attorney can then prepare and serve a civil complaint in the appropriate court. After exhausting administrative requirements, your attorney may file suit in the appropriate court. The civil case may involve discovery, settlement discussions, mediation, and potentially trial. Deciding whom to sue can affect your ability to recover compensation and recover monetary damages. An agency filing or right-to-sue letter does not itself establish that sexual harassment occurred.
The EEOC and CRD have different deadlines to file a claim. It is important to act in a timely manner, consult with an attorney, protect your legal rights, and proceed with the best information available.
What Compensation Can You Receive From a Sexual Harassment Lawsuit?
Depending on the evidence and applicable law, successful sexual harassment claims may allow plaintiffs to recover monetary damages, including back pay for lost wages and benefits, front pay for future losses when appropriate, treatment expenses, and emotional distress damages. Courts may also award authorized attorney’s fees and litigation costs, reinstatement, or workplace policy changes. Emotional distress may be compensable even when you kept your job and lost no wages.
Punitive damages are different: they punish qualifying misconduct rather than compensate for losses. Under California law, they require clear and convincing proof of malice, oppression, or fraud, with additional requirements for holding a corporate employer responsible. Punitive damages generally are unavailable against public entities.
FEHA does not impose the statutory caps that federal law places on certain compensatory and punitive damages. California has no cap on emotional distress or punitive damages under FEHA. However, awards remain subject to evidentiary requirements and judicial review, including constitutional limits on punitive damages.
Compensation is not calculated simply by counting incidents. Lost opportunities, emotional distress, retaliation, and wrongful termination may affect the damages analysis. Correcting misconduct internally is different from compensating someone through a civil lawsuit. No attorney can guarantee monetary compensation or determine a reliable settlement value without evaluating the specific facts applicable to your case.
What Are the Deadlines and Next Steps for a Sexual Harassment Claim?
Different deadlines govern administrative filings and court actions. These deadlines affect your legal rights and should not be ignored. For California sexual harassment claims, the general rules include:
- CRD: Generally, three years from the unlawful act to file an administrative complaint. Workers must file claims within the applicable administrative and court deadlines, and continuing harassment and other circumstances can affect the analysis.
- FEHA lawsuit: Generally, one year from the date of the CRD right-to-sue notice—not simply when you receive it—subject to applicable extensions.
- EEOC and Title VII: In California, generally 300 days to file a charge with the EEOC, followed by 90 days after receiving the applicable federal right-to-sue notice to sue to file the complaint in court.
Federal employees generally follow a different process that starts with contacting an EEO counselor within 45 days. Do not assume an internal investigation or settlement discussions pause a deadline, and waiting for an internal outcome can jeopardize acting in a timely manner. Speak with an attorney and have them check current requirements and any exceptions promptly. Even when you have time to file a claim, the longer you wait, the more likely witnesses are to forget the details of an incident and for documents to end up missing.
Preserve evidence now rather than waiting until a deadline approaches. Organize communications, identify witnesses, and retain complaints and employer responses. Keep communications factual rather than confrontational. Have an attorney review severance agreements, settlement offers, and arbitration documents before signing.
Avloni Law represents workers throughout all of California. If you have experienced sexual harassment or retaliation, contact our employment law firm for a confidential evaluation. Our experienced sexual harassment attorneys can assess potential claims, explain deadlines, and help workers in Los Angeles and throughout California decide how to move forward.
